By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 1 Page 8

  “Sebas...?”

  “Good morning, Master Ryoma.”

  I turned my eyes towards the direction of the sound to find the duke’s butler, Sebas, walking this way.

  “Is something the matter?”

  “I heard a strange sound earlier, followed by light leaking into the corridor.”

  It seemed like he had heard my great fall out of bed.

  “Did I... wake you?”

  “No, we servants are normally up and about at this hour. Araune and Lilian are awake too. Though the other still seem to be sleeping.”

  “I see...”

  The sun was about to rise, so I guess I’d go get water from the river. There was no point waiting around idly, but it’d also be disruptive if I went about doing things.

  When I told that to Sebas, he said he could create it with water magic, so I told him he could use the bathroom and kitchen as he wished before I left the house for some light training and a walk before we left.

  “Phew.”

  After stepping outside, the tranquil morning air of the forest brushed against my skin, filling my lungs with every breath. The chill was comforting as the sun started to rise from the distant sky. It was bright enough outside that no lights were needed to walk around. Stepping through the grass covered in morning dew, I strolled down the familiar path leisurely. Who knew how many times I had made my way back and forth to the river down this path... As I was immersed in my thoughts, I suddenly realized something.

  The room in that dream had been from when I first came to this world. There were some parts I couldn’t remember clearly, but there were no drawings on the wall or the corridor that led further inside in my dream. When I first arrived, I repeatedly went from digging my house, to securing food, to fetching water... now I remembered. It was right around the time of that dream where my continuous digging had finally created enough space for me to live in. That was when — that’s right, it was here.

  Before my eyes, the river I always fetched water from flowed by as usual. Its depth went from my ankles to my knees in the deep areas. While it wasn’t very deep, its great width made the calming sound of flowing water constant.

  “Rock.”

  I made a water jug with earth magic.

  Since becoming more familiar with water magic, the number of days I made do with magic increased, but in the beginning I came here to fetch water every day. I also washed my body, did the laundry, and trained by the riverside, so I spent most of my time either at home or here. On the morning when my home was done, I had also come here to fetch water... and picked up a slime that had been washed down the river. It wasn’t the first time I had seen a slime letting itself be carried by the flow of the river, but on that day it had been close enough for me to reach. That’s why I scooped it up in my water jug, then brought it home and tamed it on a whim.

  The foundation of taming magic, the Taming Contract was formed by spinning magic energy into a thread and using it to connect the tamer and the monster. Once the contract had been formed, a certain level of mutual understanding would be achieved, allowing for orders to be followed and a sense of location to be gained. However, the first time I formed a contract, the indistinct emotion I could feel from the slime could only be described as ‘fear.’ Watching the slime tremble made me decide to name it ‘Tabuchi.’ Because my first impression of it was very similar to the first time I met my former subordinate of that name.

  The slime Tabuchi was slow at moving at first, weakened by flowing down the river. Even if I reached my hand out, it would just shake without trying to flee. When I tried to feed it live green caterpillars, two of every five would outrun it and escape. When it approached the river to drink, it would get washed away by the water... On that day, I finally understood the reason why slimes came floating down the river.

  After that, I fed it and trained it. Once it evolved, I repeatedly conducted experiments until arriving at today. It sure brought back memories... Tabuchi was no longer here, unfortunately, but I still had his core.

  ...Speaking of the good ol’ days, I wonder what the human Tabuchi was doing now? He had been a rather chubby man, an otaku who entered the company after me as a new graduate. From the moment I met him as his more experienced instructor, he trembled at the sight of my previous life’s physique. He was pretty bad at socializing too, though I wasn’t one to talk. But he was never late, and if I explained what he needed to do and how to do it then he would. If he messed up, he felt remorse, though whether he could express that well or not was a different matter.

  As two people with the same otaku hobbies, we had lots to talk about, even though we were from different generations. He had difficulties being a team player, but he had fixed that before I died. His work was more than satisfactory, so I hoped he was able to quit that company and find employment elsewhere already... Looking back on it now, he had been quite a handful to deal with, but he was one of the good subordinates that I had. I wouldn’t have named a slime after him otherwise, after all. Remembering the other good-for-nothing bosses and subordinates wasn’t exactly pleasant.

  Although now the numbers of slimes had increased so much, I no longer named them. I could still single out an individual if needed. The effects of the contract were very convenient.

  “Oops, what time is it?”

  That was a long trip down memory lane. Light was reflecting off the water surface into my eyes, and my surroundings were much brighter now too. The training I was going to do... No, I had plans. It would be better to return. I filled the water jug I had abandoned after creating and lifted it on my shoulder to carry back.

  When I returned, Jill and Zeph were standing before the house, looking rather surprised at the sight of me carrying a water jug taller than myself. I greeted them then went inside to find the time was 7. Quite some time had passed after all... Oops.

  “You’re back, Ryoma. Good morning.”

  Reinhart came out of the inner room.

  “Good morning.”

  “Are you all prepared?”

  “Not a... problem.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  After that, I was invited to breakfast, so I fed the slimes their food while waiting. Once it was time for breakfast, I ate together with the ducal house, then gathered my slimes and went outside. After sealing the entrance with earth magic... Everything was all locked up.

  Now... It was time for a new journey!

  I wrapped up my fond memories of the last three years and turned back. The 11 people who would accompany me on my journey were waiting.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes, let’s go.”

  “Then let’s get going.”

  “All right! Off we go! Young Miss, Ryoma. If you need anything, just speak up!”

  Hughes took the lead with everyone walking behind, as I took my first step towards something new.

  Chapter 1 Episode 7: Rocked by the Carriage

  Two hours of walking through the forest later...

  The spaces between the trees gradually widened until a grassland with an open dirt path came into view. As we proceeded, a squad of people dressed in the same armor as the four escorts also came into view. The people saluted us with their hands over their chests as soon as they noticed us, pausing in their work to call out to each other. They must be people related to the ducal house.

  “Who are they?”

  “They’re private soldiers of our family. By periodically patrolling our domain, they keep the roads safe and peaceful.”

  “They’ve come along as our escorts and were tasked with investigating the forest yesterday.”

  Investigating?

  “Did you know that the number of monster sightings and damage reports have increased in these last few years, Ryoma?”

  “...? No, that’s the first I’ve heard.”

  “I see. It comes and goes in waves, but in recent years it’s been trending upwards. By increasing the frequency of patrols, we’re hoping to improve safety. This
area has never had many sightings, but after learning about you the other day...”

  Learning about me?

  “The fact that you live here. Also, last time we came, you brought Hughes a blanket made of a black bear pelt, right? That’s the strongest creature in this forest. Which is why we started wondering if it was possible that you were culling the increased number of monsters without our awareness. Just to be sure, I had them investigate the forest around the roads yesterday.”

  Huh, so something like that had been happening... Wait, was that why they had gifted me so many presents yesterday?

  Just as I was about to ask Reinhart that, a man with slightly fancier armor than the others broke off from the squad and stepped forth. Reinhart then parted ways with us, accompanied by Sebas. He was going to listen to their report.

  Those of us remaining waited a short distance away to avoid bothering the squad, which was when I spotted Sebas in the distance, taking a horse carriage out with his space magic. I had heard they had a carriage, but I didn’t realize it was also being stored with space magic. I didn’t even know that was possible.

  When I saw Sebas himself walk into the hole made by the space magic, I realized that was probably the intermediate space magic Dimension Home. It was the upgraded version of the Item Box that came with a drastic increase in storage space. Apparently, you could even live inside it if you wanted. That was what the gods had told me, but this was my first time seeing it. As I was thinking such things, Sebas took carriage after carriage out. Just how much could that magic hold? Eliaria giggled triumphantly when she saw me gawking in surprise.

  “Those are the carriages we’ll be riding in. Sebas’s Dimension Home can fit much more than that — all of our belongings are in there too, you know?”

  It could still fit more?! ...Is what I retorted in my head, before Elise took my hand and led me into the same carriage as the four members of the family. The carriage could hold six people, and with me there it made five. After waiting a bit, Sebas came to join us. For the record, the slimes were on the luggage rack attached to the roof of the carriage. Normally, that space was used to place luxury items like alcohol and snacks to enjoy during the ride.

  Once I had checked all the slimes were okay up there, we waited around for the overall preparations to wrap up and the signal for the carriages to move. Since we were riding in the same carriage, I mustered up my courage to ask Sebas about the magic he had used earlier. Apparently, he was one of the leading magicians in space magic in the kingdom, specializing in space and water magic. He said he could use advanced space magic, so I asked him another thing I was curious about.

  “The advanced space magic, Another World... Can you use that?”

  Sebas gave me an impressed look when I asked that.

  “Oh, how do you know about that magic?”

  “Familiars... easily scare townspeople. Instead of summoning magic, maybe space magic could be used... I asked grandma, and she told me.”

  “Can you use space magic instead of summoning and banishing, Sebas?”

  “It is possible. Familiars can live inside a Dimension Home, as well as Another World. If familiars were placed within them, one can probably avoid causing unnecessary distress to the public.”

  Thank goodness. If it hadn’t been possible, my future would have been a bit more problematic.

  In this world, there was a magic very similar to the taming magic contract I had with my slimes, called summoning magic. Like taming magic, it was a type of magic that contracted a monster to obey you, but as it only called the monster to you when needed, it was seen as far more convenient. Because of that, summoning magic was starting to replace taming magic as the mainstream choice... Well, I didn’t really care about that.

  I figured that the benefits of summoning magic could be substituted with space magic, so I chose taming magic as a skill while being reincarnated. Though part of the reason was also because I was told to choose an extra type of magic on top of taming, due to capacity issues.

  “Public response varies from place to place, but many tamers often end up feeling ashamed...”

  “But there is another problem with that. First, substituting summoning and banishing requires intermediate space magic or above. And any monsters placed inside a Dimension Home can only be removed by the space magician that put them in there. Whether the tamer uses the space magic themselves or hires someone else, if for some reason that space magician is no longer able to use space magic — especially in the case of death — the familiar will never be able to be brought out again. This applies to everything stored across all space magics, regardless of the difficulty, so it all depends on what the individual thinks. Some may choose to use it, while others consider the risks too great to use.”

  ...Come to think of it, the three gods also discussed this among themselves when we came across this point.

  “As for the answer to Master Ryoma’s question, I can use Another World. However, it is not a spell that I favor. It is the highest difficulty of space magic, and those who can use it are well respected as elite space magicians... but that is all.”

  “What... do you mean?”

  “It’s a very impractical magic to use. To explain it in order... There are three steps needed to use Another World, and the first step is to create an immense space with magic. This step decides the size within Another World, and the size depends on the amount of magical energy the individual has.”

  “...So people with more magic... have bigger size... less magic... smaller size?”

  “Precisely. On top of that, this first step uses all the magic of the individual and causes great exhaustion, sometimes leaving them bedridden for several days. And if they fail at the first step, the space is lost and requires starting over from the beginning.”

  So it would all be for nothing, huh...

  “After succeeding at the first step, the second step is to connect the created space with your current position using a portal. This also consumes a large amount of magic, and requires starting over if it fails. These two steps are the preparation, the third step is to just open the gate and go through it. In other words: on average, opening and closing this gate just once would consume anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 magic energy. This 10,000 is a value applied to magic energy, but if you consider the fact that the minimum requirement to become a royal sorcerer is 10,000 magic energy... Even the best magicians of the kingdom could be rendered immobile with just one use of this magic. It is not a magic to be abused. In addition, the question of what should be placed in such a space after all that effort also makes it impractical.”

  At that point, Eliaria spoke up.

  “What do you mean? The bigger it is, the more things you can put in it, no?”

  “You can, but if you’re only storing furniture and belongings for a trip, the intermediate Dimension Home is more than enough. If you want to store something that can only fit in Another World, then you’d be trying to store something as big as a palace or fortress. At that point, the next problem would be how to move such a thing, ultimately making it a waste of magic with no use.”

  “I didn’t think of that.”

  So there were quite a few downsides to it. Well, I was aware of most of that already, so it seemed reasonable to just aim for the intermediate Dimension Home for now. My familiars were slimes, anyway.

  As I was thinking such things, Sebas made a follow-up comment.

  “However, some large monsters can reach the size of a castle, so it could be of use if you ever contract a monster of that type.”

  “Is that so... Thank you very much.”

  “Not at all. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you wish.”

  “Speaking of which, what elements of magic can you use, Ryoma? You’ve mentioned earth and space, and since you boiled the water for the bathtub, I assume fire and water too?”

  My magic elements were a safe topic to talk about, so I answered Eliaria honestly.

  “My grandma
... said... all of them.”

  “All the elements, huh? That’s uncommon. Are there any that you’re focusing on expanding?”

  “Mostly earth and space... some fire and water... pretty much all, but just enough for living.”

  “Hmm... And you can use taming magic and barrier magic on top of that? Be careful you don’t end up a jack of all elements, master of none.”

  “I understand.”

  Come to think of it, the gods gave me that warning too.

  “...Did I say something funny?”

  “Huh?”

  “You were smiling a bit, Ryoma.”

  Oops, I guess it was showing on my face.

  “My grandma... once said the same... because I also dabbled... in healing magic and alchemy.”

  “I see, I was worried I said something strange.”

  “But alchemy? Now that’s another curious thing to have an interest in...”

  Come to think of it, I hadn’t received much information about alchemy for some reason. I should ask about it.

  “Is it rare?”

  “You’d be hard pressed to find an alchemist nowadays. Their numbers have fallen dramatically after the rampant scams about creating gold. A long time ago there was a man called the Alchemy King who made a large profit, but he was the only successful case I’ve ever heard of.”

  “According to some, the foundations of alchemy were created by the Alchemy King, but modern day alchemy was created by those who sought the profits of the Alchemy King. The current methods are far inferior to the techniques of the Alchemy King, so nowadays it’s just treated as a method of fraud, leaving alchemists in a precarious situation.”

  “Alchemists also have this secretive and creepy image about them. Other magic-related guilds have a degree of secrecy, but alchemists take it one step too far.”

  Reinbach, Sebas, and Eliaria’s description seemed pretty negative. But there were similarities to how supposed alchemists used to be treated on Earth, too.

  “Would it be better... not to say... I learned alchemy?”

  “Yes, that would be for the best.”

  “I understand.”