Chapter 020: The Future of Molecular Magic (Patreon)

Roa Town. As the largest town in Fittoa, a territory of the Asura Kingdom. It boasted sturdy walls and quite decent streets. And this was where Eris's family home stood.

After receiving her grandfather's word... Eris, dressed in her finest... burst out of her front door in a fluster of excitement. After all, it had been a full year!!! For an entire year, she'd had to grind through study after tedious study. Today... she finally had a rare day off. It hadn't been easy. It really, truly hadn't!!!!

Ghislaine, Rudy, and Sylphiette naturally followed along behind her. Watching Lady Eris run wild and free ahead of them, they couldn't help but share in her joy. Bright smiles bloomed on everyone's faces.

But... as Eris ran farther and farther ahead, Rudy laughed and called out, "Slow down, Sister Eris."

"Oh, honestly..."

Eris turned back, chin lifted. She strode quickly over to Rudy, grabbed both his and Sylphiette's hands, and set off running forward again.

"It's our day off, so quit acting so composed all the time."

"All right, then today I'll follow Sister Eris's lead."

"..."

Compared to the wild, carefree Eris, Sylphiette was rather shy and said little. Still... being pulled along by Eris made her plenty happy. A year of nonstop study hadn't just applied to Eris. Ever since arriving in Roa Town, Sylphiette had likewise gone a full year without getting out to play. Today, she finally had a holiday. Naturally, that filled her with genuine, heartfelt joy.

They ran the whole way there, past the smiling faces of many townsfolk, until they reached Roa Town's bustling marketplace. Looking at the dazzling array of goods, food, clothing, everyday wares, so much of everything. There were plenty of little trinkets, too, the kind that caught the eye.

Eris wandered here and there, endlessly curious, poking and asking questions about everything. As for Rudy, he brought Sylphiette and Ghislaine along, trailing behind, equally curious about the goods on display.

Truth be told, though... after buying a few snacks from the stalls, Rudy had stopped holding out much hope for the street food of Jobless Reincarnation. Compared to his past life, with its dazzling variety of seasonings, this world's... seasonings were simply too limited!!! Which dragged the overall flavor of everything down quite a bit.

Perhaps, in between his training, he ought to try hunting down some decent seasonings. Otherwise, stuck eating the same simple dishes, after years of it, he was honestly getting a little sick of it. Wasn't the whole point of living to make life more comfortable for yourself? And eating made up such a huge part of life!!!

Oh, right... he still couldn't manipulate matter at the atomic level, but he could manage magical manipulation at the molecular level. And the stuff that made up the world... was, for the most part, various atoms bonded together into large molecular aggregates. Maybe he could approach the seasoning problem from that angle too. While training, he could also hunt for some good seasonings. Two birds, one stone!!!

"Rudy, what are you thinking about?"

"Hm?"

He turned to look at Sylphiette beside him.

Rudy smiled. "I'm thinking about how to find some good seasonings."

Sylphiette looked puzzled. "Seasonings?"

Nodding, Rudy said with a smile, "I'm a bit tired of how the food tastes these days. So I was thinking about finding some decent seasonings, just to add a little more flavor to life."

Hearing this, Ghislaine laughed. "Speaking of seasonings, back when I was adventuring all over the world, I actually ran into quite a few good ones. Now that you mention it, I'm getting a bit tempted myself."

Rudy grinned. "Right? Why don't you list out a few categories, Ghislaine, and I'll try to collect some when I get the chance."

Ghislaine chuckled. "No problem. I'll write you up a rough list once we're back. Though honestly, if you want something too specific, I might not remember it all that clearly."

Rudy nodded, smiling. "That's fine. Whatever you do remember is sure to be the stuff that made the strongest impression anyway."

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you all talking about?"

Eris, who had run on ahead, noticed everyone still standing in the same spot, and came running back, curious.

Rudy smiled. "We were talking about that grilled meat from earlier — the flavor wasn't quite right. Eris, do you know anywhere around here that makes food that's actually good?"

Eris furrowed her brow. "That skewer just now was great, though. Rudy, you didn't like the taste of it?"

Nodding, Rudy said with a smile, "Yeah. Not only was the skewer poorly seasoned, there was also this leftover bloody smell that hadn't been cleaned off properly. Eating it felt like eating raw meat. It really wasn't great."

Just then... the owner of a nearby stall, waved at Rudy with a smile. "Excuse me, would you be the young master from the Lord's household?"

Nodding, Eris planted her hands on her hips. "That's right. Is something the matter?"

The stall owner smiled. "If you're looking for some good game meat, I happen to know a fine place. You should give it a try. The prices there run a bit steep, but I doubt that's an issue for you all."

Eris asked eagerly, "Really? Tell us, quick!"

Listening to the stall owner's words, Rudy, Sylphiette, and Ghislaine also turned, looking at the stall owner with anticipation.

The stall owner didn't beat around the bush either. He gave them the name of the shop and its location, straight and simple.

After thanking him, everyone was about to set off in that direction.

But just as Rudy was leaving, the stall owner called out to stop him. "Hold on, young sir. Would you be interested in this?"

As he spoke, he held out a bottle, wrapped with obvious care, and set it right in front of Rudy. He curled his left hand into a ring shape, then slid the index finger of his right hand back and forth through it.

Seeing this, Rudy couldn't help but find it a little funny. This stall owner really knew how to run a business. And he was pretty good at reading people, too. It was clear enough... that Rudy was seen as the central figure of the group, while the others were all girls. So naturally, the man had decided to try selling him something of that particular sort.

Rudy nodded. He genuinely hadn't looked into that kind of medicinal ingredient before. If it could add something useful to his molecular magic studies, he'd actually be pretty pleased about it.

After all... deadly poison was the sort of thing plenty of people instinctively resisted. But this particular kind of special enhancement medicine was, more often than not, something people wouldn't resist at all. And precisely because they wouldn't resist it... it could become the perfect tool for him — for fighting, and for protecting himself.