When we got back to the house, we started experimenting in the corner of the yard.

　I'm not overly confident enough to try to build a bathtub, so we started with blocks.

It's not good for water to seep in, so imagine glazed tiles. ......

　Making the surface slippery is not a problem, as I have tried to do so when making dice.
　It's not just a matter of hardening the clay, it's a matter of melting the surface.

...... completed.
"Oh, it looks good!　It feels good to the touch.

　Yuki picks up the block and smiles as she caresses the surface.

Yuki picks up the block and smiles as she caresses the surface, "It's the part that touches your bare skin. The bottom of the tub needs to be non-slip.
An open-air bath made of natural stone would be nice, but it's not suitable for daily use. It's hard to clean.

　The natural stone bathtub is not suitable for daily use because it's hard to clean. Besides, Yuki is right, a seamless bathtub would be better for daily cleaning.

How's the waterproofing?
　Yuki put the block in the tub of water she had prepared for checking.

　I peeked in from the side, but there were no bubbles coming out, and when I pulled it out of the water, the water ran clear.

It looks fine.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, functionally, if we could mold the same thing in a tub the size of this one, it'd be fine. ......
But?
Bad color!
You're right!

　I nodded in agreement with Yuki's powerful argument.

　The color of the finished block is earthy because it was made from local soil.
　The color of the blocks is earthy, and if you look at it from a favorable point of view, it's beige.

　I'm not saying that there are no such bathtubs, but my image is that white or light pastel colors are more bathtub-like.

　I'm not saying there are no such bathtubs, but my image is that white or light pastel colors look more like bathtubs.

I'm not sure if it's possible to make it look like a porcelain bathtub.

Yuki, you're being absurd. That kind of thing is made of white ceramic stone with colored glaze on top of it, right?　It may not need firing because it's magic, but we don't have any pottery stones.

I see. ....... I see. ...... I'll have to isolate the brown component from the soil around here. ...... What is the brown component?
Brown. ...... Iron?

　I'm sure you're wondering what the components of soil are again.
　You can say that it's a rock that's been weathered into smaller pieces, and there are many different compositions of rock and many different compounds in it. .......

I'm not sure what to make of this.　Can't you make pottery stone or something?

"...... Oh, that reminds me.

　I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I'm sure you're aware of it.
　Well, actually, I had forgotten about it until now too.

"But what are the ingredients of pottery stone?
"Well, I think it's quartz and white mica or something like that. ......?
"Quartz is silicon dioxide, SiO2, right?　What about mica?
You're asking me that?　I think it's an oxide of aluminum, but I don't remember.

　I'm not proud of it, but I'm not as good as Yuki and the other three in school. I'm not proud of it, but my school grades are not as good as those of Yuki and the other three, and I'm sure Yuki remembers better than I do about miscellaneous things like chemical formulas.

Aluminum Oxide...... refractory bricks are made of alumina, right?　It's also whitish, so is it close?

I'm sure Haruka can answer that question. ...... But do we need mica?　I'm not sure if silicon dioxide is good enough.

　We don't want to make porcelain.
　We don't want to make porcelain, we just want to mold clay to make a bathtub.

　We don't need to knead it into clay, we don't need to fire it, and we don't care what kind of clay it is as long as it has a beautiful color. It doesn't matter if it's durable or not, quartz is not bad in that respect.

Quartz is not bad in that respect either. "That's true too. Silicon dioxide ...... silica sand. Is it going to work?　...... "Create Earth"!

　As soon as Yuki chanted this, there was a pile of white sand on the ground that she could scoop up with both hands.

"Wow, did you succeed?

　Yuki's eyes rolled back in her head, as if she couldn't quite believe the result, and she picked up a pinch of white sand and twisted her head while inspecting it.

　I observe it, but I'm not sure if it's really silica sand ...... or silicon dioxide. It looks like it, though.

　However, if "Create Earth" can produce silicon dioxide, can it also produce various metallic elements?

　Or is it possible to create any substance that can exist in the soil, such as iron oxide for iron?　If this is possible, .......

"Hey, could this be used to make gold?

No, I'm not sure about that .......　If the category of "earth" in "create earth" is "material that exists alone in the earth," then it may not be impossible, but if it can be done easily ......, then it is really "alchemy.

It's not impossible. You can't do that, can you?　Hahaha.

Yeah, yeah. If that were possible, earth wizards would be very rich. Hahahaha.

　We looked at each other and laughed for a while.


　Then, with a straight face, they looked at each other and nodded.

"But it's free to try, right?
"Yeah. If you can do it, it's a win-win. Literally.
Okay. ...... "Create Earth"!

　I'm not sure I can do it, but I'm going to do it.
　But then he immediately paled and shook his head.

I can't do it!　Stop!　Abort!　This is no good!　Oh, no, no, no, no!
"Are you okay?

　Yuki wobbled and almost fell, but I hurried to support her.

I'm having a hard time. ......
Sit down for now.

　I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.

　From the symptoms, it was probably caused by consuming a large amount of magic power at once. It makes me feel sick, doesn't it?

　It doesn't make me lose consciousness, but that's because I can't maintain magic in such a state.

　If you are able to push down such a physical condition with your willpower and exert your magic power to the limit, you might be able to faint from overuse of magic, but it would be impossible for an ordinary person.

I'm going to lie down. Give me your lap~
I don't mind, but do you want to go back to your room at ......?
I'll be fine, just get some rest.

　I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

I'm not sure how rare this magic is.　I'm not sure what to do.　I'm sure you're not the only one.

I'm sure there's no such thing as a good way to make precious metals.
I'm not sure what to make of it.

　It's a good thing that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

　Incidentally, according to Haruka and Natsuki, the percentage of gold contained in the ground is several hundred million times higher than that of silicon. In other words, if Yuki's hypothesis is correct, it would take several hundred million times as much magic power to produce one gram of gold as it would to produce one gram of silicon.

　As a matter of course, it is almost impossible to prepare such magic power.
　In addition, silver and even copper are a few thousand times more expensive than silicon.

　Yuki succeeded in creating silica sand relatively easily, probably because it was silicon dioxide.

　Aluminum seems to be surprisingly abundant, and since it was relatively easy to produce, it would be utilized later, but that is another story.

Well, take a break. I'm going to try to make something with this silica sand.
"Yes, please~

　In general, the only way to recover magic power is to either take a rest or use a potion.

　I think Haruka and Natsuki are in charge of the potions, but they don't have them yet, so all they can do now is rest.

　I put Yuki, who has gone limp again, on my lap, picked up some silica sand, and tried to make dice, as usual.

"...... Mmm?
It's a little harder than regular dirt.
It's a little harder than regular dirt, huh?

　In the palm of my hand is a slightly whitish translucent six-sided die.

　You can make it properly, but the amount of magic power consumed is a bit more than when you use ordinary clay. It's just a feeling I have.

But it's neat, isn't it?　It's beautiful.

　Yuki said as she held up the die I handed her to the sky, but I was a little dissatisfied.

If this is silicon dioxide, it should be completely transparent if it's made properly, right?　The cloudy white color is .......

I think it's possible that the soil I made was not completely silicon dioxide, but in a way, if you think of it as a bathtub, isn't this enough?　A transparent bathtub is kind of like a ...... bathtub, isn't it?

"...... Yeah, that's for sure.

　I'm not sure what to make of it.
　It looks like it has boiling water in it.
　From a practical point of view, it would be better if it is not visible from the outside.

"Now we have to figure out how much silica sand we'll need. ...... What size bathtub do you think is best?

"If you want to be economical, go for a unit bath size, but if you want to be extravagant, go for a size that can fit two or three people.

　For me, I want a bathtub that I can get into if I bend my legs lightly.

　If the cost is the highest priority, it should be the size of a drum, but the purpose of a bath is to relax the body and mind, as long as there is "purification. A drum bath may be interesting once in a while, but for daily use, it is out of the question.

I'm sure you'll be able to figure out how to make your own.
I'm sure you'll be able to find something that works for you.

　The only one who can produce water at the moment is Haruka.

　I'm sure I could learn the water magic with some training, but when I'm tired after coming home from work, it's going to be tough to get enough water to fill up a large bathtub.

　Still, the cost would be much less than pumping water from a well or boiling water with wood.

If you don't have that much magic power, you can do without a bath, right?　If you just want to get clean, you can use 'purification'.

"Well, you know. You don't have to take a bath every day.

I'd take a bath every day if I could.

　I agree with you, but it's not necessary as long as you don't need to wash your body.
　If that's the case, should we build a large bathroom even if it's difficult to build?

"Yes, let's try to build a big bathtub!


"Thanks. Then let's calculate the amount of silica sand we need.

　Yuki got up and started to draw a rough plan and formula on the ground.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

　The formula he wrote down was simple: subtract the volume of a 1.5 x 2.5 x 0.5 meter rectangle that was 10 centimeters less than the thickness of the rectangle, and multiply by 1.5.

　The answer is about one cubic meter. That's about 100 buckets.
　Seeing the result, a bead of sweat ran down Yuki's cheek.

　The silica sand Yuki just made is less than a third of a bucket, so if he were to make it at the same rate, he would have to use Create Earth over 300 times.

...... is quite a lot, isn't it?
That's right. Good luck, Yuki.

　I tap Yuki on the shoulder to encourage her.
　I patted Yuki on the shoulder to encourage her. She looked back at me with a smile on her face.

"Nao, of course you will help me, right?　You're not going to ask me to do it alone, are you?

"Yeah, but I'm only level one, right?

You don't have to level up, but you have to be able to use Create Earth, right?　No, I'd rather be able to use it.

　I can understand why you would want to do this, but you're being very reckless with a straight face.

　Well, I can't really leave it up to Yuki, so I have no choice but to do it.


　As it turned out, after an hour or two of practice, I was able to produce silica sand.

　I was able to use "Create Earth" to produce mere "earth" right away, but when I limited myself to only silica sand, the difficulty increased, and it was a bit long from there.

　After about an hour of trial and error, I succeeded with Yuki's advice, "If you imagine the chemical formula and structure, it might work. After about an hour of trial and error, Yuki's advice, "If you visualize the chemical formula and structure, it might work.

　After that, we moved to the laundry room and continued to make silica sand, but Yuki was useless because she was out of magic, and I had used a lot of magic in practice, so by the time Haruka and the others came back, the amount of silica sand we were able to make was less than ten buckets.

　At this rate, it will take some time to complete the bathtub.