Hey, what's going on here?
　I'm making a cane.

　A cane?
　Tetra is putting together something that looks like parts.

　A number of disks as big as an adult's arm are put together on a single thin stick.
　The disks have a geometric pattern running through them.
　A crystal is embedded in the tip.

　'Tell me about it,'
　Okay.

　Tetra first pointed her white palm at me.
　My hair waved fluffily.
　It's a spell to create wind.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this. But.........
　Tetra says and then takes out a piece of paper.
　It has a magic circle written on it.

　She points it at me.
　The geometric patterns shine and the wind is stronger than before.

　It is more efficient to use the magic circle as a medium to activate magic like this. The magic power uses what you have, so the magic circle can be used forever.

　Well......
　I've always focused on the fact that you don't have to be a sorcerer to be able to use magic, but that's one advantage you have.

　'But there's one problem. You can only use the same kind of magic of the same power because the magic circle is a fixed object. This means that you can't do battle with it, though it's not very good. Besides, there's a limit to the amount of information a magic circle can provide on paper.

　Indeed.
　It has no applications.
　The advantage of sorcery is that you can approach the enemy in many different ways, depending on the enemy.

　It's not much different from throwing a spear if you can only use one type of magic.
　It's not something you can carry around with you a lot.

　According to Tetra, the strength of magic depends on the size of the magic circle.
　That's why you need a pretty big piece of paper to produce enough power to hurt people.

　Not good at all.

　So I carved magic circles on a circular wooden board like this and combined them together. Each one of these magic circles doesn't make sense individually. But by combining several of them...

　Tetra points her finished wand at me.
　The wand glows and a great wind blows.

　It's quite powerful.

　Moreover, it can be rotated to change the connection and create a completely different kind of magic.
　Tetra rotates some disks.
　Then she points her wand upwards.

　Flames started blowing out.

　'But hey, what about the power issue?'
　Disks are narrower than paper.
　No matter how many of them you combine....

　No problem.
　Tetra says confidently.

　'Good?　Until now, information was expressed in terms of the square of the ｜X-axis (horizontal) and the ｜Y-axis (vertical). But now we have added the z-axis (height) to this. In other words, the amount of information that can be expressed is raised to the third power!

　.........
　When did you get so smart?

　Where's the crystal, by the way?
　'Some of the ornaments given to me by someone named Rigal Dibel. I'm not interested in ornaments, so I took it apart. The highly transparent crystal is able to conduct 99% of the magic power without distorting the magic formula. The main body of the magic circle is made of wood, so it will burn if you start a fire. But as long as the crystal is attached to it, there is no problem. Crystal doesn't burn. It's cooler to put it on it.

　Well......
　I don't understand.

　Anyway, Mr. Rigal.
　I'm so sorry, Mr. Rigal. My wife, for example, took apart your gift.


　"By the way, Alms. What's troubling you, by the way, Alms?
　Bartolo's daughter is on the way, right?　I was wondering what I should bring to that birthday party as a souvenir.

　I asked Bartolo about it, and he said that liquor is the most common drink.　
　Not to mention the host of the event, participants drink what they bring in and get drunk.
　Speaking of which, I remembered that many rich and powerful people brought liquor to a wedding.

　The second most common items were ornaments, amulets, and fine clothes for children.

　King Lossius said honey would be good for you but, you know, you can't provide that much, can you?
　Certainly....paper....is a strange gift. Why don't you just use alcohol or food?
　But what kind of food can you provide?

　We make good bread.
　But what's the point of bringing bread to celebrate?
　It's a staple. And it's even better than Bartolo's already prepared.

　It's no good. I'll make a fool of myself.

　The basic dishes and ingredients that Bartolo would serve are not allowed.
　In that case, I'll have to drink.

　What do you have in mind?
　Well. I think I'm gonna make some spirits.




　The alcohol content of alcohol in this world is very low.
　When I say wine, it's basically like grape juice with a little alcohol in it.

　It's treated more as a way to rehydrate and make the hard water of the Adelunian peninsula easier to drink than to get drunk.

　Well, it's high at 3%.
　And it's very strong, about 5%. It's super strong, about 5%.
　Oh, by the way, this is my experience.

　Spirits are about 40% alcohol, so it's sure to be popular.

　As for the wine, we have what King Ferm had in reserve, and what we used to make in our former village.
　We can make enough spirits for a banquet.

　I can't guarantee its taste because it's unaged, but the wine of the Adelunian peninsula itself is not very good to begin with.

　The taste is compensated for by the strong alcohol content.
　And we all want more than a good drink, we want a drink that gets us drunk.

　And if you mix it with grape juice and drink it, it'll solve the problem.

　Bartolo's baby won't be born until June. It's May now.
　That means we have another month to spare.

　It's easy to make.
　We'll just do what we did in junior high school: distill a mixture of water and ethanol, and that's it.
　There's just one problem.

　I'd need special equipment...
　No.
　No, it's okay. We can make it.

　I can't make it, though.
　I could just use a bronze vessel instead of a flask.

　I could get a blacksmith to do it.





　That's what I'm talking about.
　'Hmmm, it's not easy. Not that it's impossible but the tax sword and spear...　
　We'll do it later. We'll give you two more months. Don't worry, we'll pay for the bronze flask in full wheat.

　The blacksmiths look a little surprised when I answer that.

　''........You're going to buy me out?''
　Yeah. It's not a tax. I don't take a temporary tax unless there's a war or a natural disaster and I don't need supplies urgently.

　Besides, you'll be more motivated to buy them out than to have them collected as a tax.
　Blacksmiths are valuable.
　We're not going to clamp down on them.

　Besides, what we get from King Loseys and what we buy from Bartolo, we have enough in reserve.
　And we can earn foreign currency with paper and honey.

　The blacksmiths broke into a grimace and left, saying they would pay up.

　'Hey, Almus,'
　Hmm?　What?
　How well-equipped are the newly recruited troops?
　Not enough. But it will take time to complete the recruitment process. And I don't have a reserve, but I have enough for everyone.

　What the Ferrum King stripped from his army.
　What the Ferrum King had in reserve.
　Thanks to the Ferrum King, we have plenty of weapons.

　And every soldier on the Adelunian peninsula essentially brings his own weapons.
　So we only have to replace the ones that are too badly equipped.

　"I'd like to have at least some bronze or better equipment. Wooden shields are too much.

　In the last battle, Gram's bow killed a soldier equipped with a wooden shield in an interesting way.
　High performance arrows can't be protected by a wooden shield.

　'But I think the armour should be leather.
　Bronze is heavy, and the key to war is mobility.

　And a heavy infantry assault is quite physical.
　Leather is still preferable.

　Well, we have a high physical capacity under the influence of our blessing, so we can easily wear full-body bronze.
　Speaking of which, how effective is my blessing?

　Julia said it's all about loyalty.　
　It's an about-face....

　At least in King Ferm's country, they didn't have my allegiance.
　Neither did the newly arrived refugees.

　Since when did my children (who aren't children now) become affected by my blessings?
　First of all, it started to affect me myself when I protected Roseward, didn't it?

　Kids were normal in those days.
　I knew it was a gradual change between the ages of ten and fourteen.

　So it would take at least four years?
　No, we who were always together and the people of As territory are different.

　When I think about it........

　It's no good. Don't expect any blessings.
　That's a very subtle blessing indeed....

　But my physical abilities are better than they were when I was in the village, right?
　So there's a difference between spreading to everyone else and affecting myself, right?

　And it's a sign that the people of Ass territory are starting to be a little more loyal to me...

　'Alms?　Are you alive?
　Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm alive. I'm alive. I was just thinking about something.

　I don't know if I can help it.
　I don't know.