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Tensei Shoujo no Rirekisho - Volume 2 - Chapter 16

Published at 29th of June 2019 02:04:18 PM


Chapter 16

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Freshman Arc ⑯ Ice Magic Stone

I went to the market early in the morning in order to buy cream-like fat cow milk.
It was rather expensive.
Cow milk and butter existed in this world but dairy products are expensive. Probably because mass producing it with magic like crops wasn't possible. When it comes to animal products you could only rely on the animal's own power.

"What the heck, just how much does this cost in the capital!?" Is what I feared when it came to the more high class dairy products, but it was only a tad bit higher than the market price.
There was a ranch on a slightly elevated place inside the capital so there was no transport cost, as a result the price didn't increase by much. Surprisingly there was a field in the capital too, so crops could be traded fairly cheaply.
It was a small field but there were magicians around so crops could easily be grown using spells. The best thing was the sugar from sugar beets which could be extracted using magic as well.

Compared to other places, in the capital there were many magicians, obtaining goods manufactured with magic was easy.

So I bought plenty of sugar and a few eggs. Carrying a large bag in both hands I headed towards mama Kou's[1] house.
When I arrived Alan and the rest were all together waiting in front of the house. Ah, Cain-sama came too! I'm getting hyped! Alan knew where mama's house was so I had asked him to guide everyone.

On entering the house Charlotte-chan, Rits-kun and Cain-sama all greeted mama Kou. She hid her onee mannerisms[2] and gave a clear response. Alan, however, entered with an air of "Lets go inside!" giving off a vibe that he was a regular customer.

I really can't deal with this guy!

I pulled myself together saying 「Sorry for the wait! Let's get to it!」 while handing over water to Charlotte-chan and asked her to make ice cubes.

I poured the cream I bought into a saucepan and began heating it to sterilize it.
The people in this world didn't know about bacteria. But somehow the idea that heating food made it safe to eat had taken root. That's why they heated everything before using it.
Because of this I do think that it would've been pasteurized before shipping but I sterilized it just in case. I-it's not like I didn't have any confidence or anything like that!

Once it was sterilized I added the sugar, steadily cooled it while stirring and mixed in the eggs.
After that I prepared 2 small thin leather bags as a replacement for a bottle and filled both of them. Using a string I sealed them as tight as possible to prevent the air from getting in.
The remaining cream I sealed in a larger leather bag in the same manner. It would be a disaster if it leaks so I sewed the bags shut just in case.

Alright, the preparations are complete.
When I looked over at Charlotte-chan's group they had finished freezing the water and broken the ice.

Huh? There is one thing that bothers me...

「Is it possible to instantly freeze things other than water using ice magic?」
If that's the case we could instantly freeze this cream.

「Probably not, I think. Basically, ice magic and in particular magic spirit users use is magic to create ice. We still have a long way to go so without water we can't make ice, but to some extend using magic to make ice from nothing should be possible. But for really great magicians freezing all sorts of things shouldn't be impossible...?」
Charlotte-chan tilted her head sideways while thinking. So ice magic is not the same as freezing magic. So it seems like Flash freezing it directly to around -196℃ is impossible.

Making ice from nothing really is amazing. Now that I think about it, when we fought with Ryuuki-san he had frozen the feet of the boss and the rest to stop them from moving. They couldn't move because of the ice but after the magic was dispelled their feet seemed okay so it wasn't like he froze the human body.

Well, It would be terribly scary if you could cool anything with a single spell just like liquid nitrogen...

Now that I knew that the things I prepared beforehand weren't for nothing I continued my work.

I shoved one of the smaller leather bags containing the cream inside a slightly larger bowl containing the ice Charlotte-chan made. I prepared another bowl by hastily putting in ice and pulverized ice magic stones and added the other small leather bag in the same manner. That concluded the work for the main experiment. All we had to do now is wait. In the meantime I began making sweets using the cream in the larger leather bag.

I shoved the leather bag containing the cream in another larger bag made from cloth that had ice and ice magic stones inside. Then, to prevent the ice from falling out, I closed the cloth bag by holding and spun it in circles for about 2 minutes. It gave me a good arm workout.

It should be ready about now.
I took out the leather bag from the cloth one and touched it confirming it had already solidified and opened the bag. The cream had properly solidified into pure white ice cream!

It solidified! Nice!

I quickly handed out some plates and treated everyone with some. Kou-san was out on an errand for her job, so I left her some and put it back into the cloth bag to prevent it from melting.

「Wow! It has already solidified? Is- is it okay to eat it like this?」Rits-kun asked while poking the ice with his spoon.

It's fine! Just scoop it and eat! I led by example and took the first bite.

Oh!
What an intense flavor! It has a smooth texture, I thought I added too much sugar but for cold sweets it's just right.
As expected of myself!
I don't know if people will keep saying 『As expected of Ryou!』 if I keep doing like this. But if nothing else, there are sure to come 5 compliments right my way.

「Cold! So sweet! It's so good! Ryou-sama, just what is this!? It's cold, I mean, isn't it frozen!?」 Charlotte-chan, as is typical of a girl, had taken an interest into sweets.

「This is really amazing Ryou. It's nothing like anything I've eaten before. It disappears in my mouth... It's as if, when it melts my mouth gets filled with happiness.」 Cain-sama said with a surprised look on his face. Oh Cain-sama, you're such a poet. Instead of such poetic praises I'm fine with simple compliments like 『As expected of Ryou!』

「This is a frozen dessert called ice cream. You simply mix the ingredients we prepared earlier and let it freeze.」
「B-but to freeze it...! If you can do such a thing then you really must be able to magic!」

Charlotte began shouting in excitement beyond my expectations.

I'm really can't use magic... When I enrolled I was personally told by the examiner『You're not a magician』

「You're wrong. It's not magic. If you put salt on ice its freezing point will lower and it will begin to melt. Doing so will take away the heat and the surrounding temperature can drop to as low as -20℃」

I wanted to say I wasn't a magician but panicked and explained it. Charlotte had a 『hmm?』 look on her face and averted her eyes before saying 『I- I understand...』 and went back to eating her ice cream.
She clearly didn't understand. I talked about things this world didn't know. I'm sorry...

「But didn't it harden so quickly because you kept spinning it in circles?」 Alan, while saying this, had already finished his ice cream and before I knew it reached out to the leather bags that were soaking in ice for an experiment.
Hey! Don't touch that!

「Those aren't ready yet! Gently put them back! What we're eating comes from the bag that I spun around, which is a more efficient way of cooling so it solidified faster!」
Alan halted but kept staring at it with great interest. This damned henchman, I really can't get careless around him.

Cain-sama gave me a wry smile as if saying 『Sorry for the troubles my brother keeps causing you』 and addressed Alan.

「Alan, I still have some left, you can have it.」
「Really? But that's yours...」

Alan was looking around restlessly displaying his inner conflict.
A "I want to eat it, but it's my brother's, but he said I could have it, but if I eat it..." sort of conflict.

Well, what will you do? What will you do, Alan!

「Th-that's yours. I already had mine so it's okay!」
Alan bit his lip after replying like he made a crucial decision while puffing up his chest.

I see, That's admirable, Alan! You showed some self-control!
Yeah... Alan is being a good boy. Showing some restraint, he showed such a bright expression until now. Isn't life fun!

「Alan...! So made up your mind! Well, then I'll eat it!」

As if he was looking at something dazzling Cain-sama squinted his eyes and looked at Alan. Nodded a couple of times and ate his ice cream.

Ah, They're still as close as ever...
It's just, with me, isn't there a difference in the mood? It bothers me. I have all these wasted memories of a previous life, if you add up all the years I would be an adult. Though I don't feel like I'm an adult just yet, even so it occasionally feels like there is something like a generation gap.

「Alan has become an adult before we knew it. Perhaps He'll soon leave my side side... If I think about that I get lonely.」

Cain-sama was expressing his grief and threw me a warm 『You're like his older sister so you understand, right?』 sort of smile.
Stop! Henchman, little brother or whatever, that load is to heavy for me!

When I looked over at Charlotte for help, she looked like she was having fun talking to Rits-kun.

「You wont go back, so this means you'll be staying in the royal capital.」
「Yes. My family moved to the capital, though I want to see everyone from the village...」
「Village? Ah I see. Lotte is from a pioneering village. From Gwynassis, right? Then you'd have to together with Katherina.」
「That's right... recently it has come to a point where they started following me even in class, Katherina has yet to do anything but her followers are scary.」
Those two seem to be talking about their plans for the upcoming long vacation.
So Charlotte-chan is staying in the capital.

No, more importantly. Just now Rits-kun called Charlotte-chan "Lotte". They seem to have grown quite familiar! Just what sort of relationship are those two in! If I want to deepen my relationship with Charlotte-chan I'll have to get between them!

「Ryou-sama what will you be doing?」

Envious with Rits-kun's high social skills I started talking to with Charlotte-chan.

「I have plans to return to Rubyfallen. The Earl told me he wanted me to return.」
Since I enrolled I had occasionally exchanged letters with Bashu-san. Mainly about agriculture, management of the territory, whether there were any problems and similar topics. I also got mysterious letters from Tagosaku-san at fixed intervals.

Tagosaku-san had started learning how to write. Using the words he learned he had sent something resembling story.

It began with 「A golden baby born from the bud of a dandelion. Born with a heart so pure all living beings were brought to tears.」

Without thinking to hard about it I replied with 『Please don't write me!』 but every time there is a letter from Bashu-san there is a story from Tagosaku-san enclosed within... That person is frightening.

Leaving Tagosaku-san aside, Bashu-san had told me that if possible he wished for me to come back so he could talk about agriculture in person.

「So you're going back to Rubyfallen... If you didn't then I hoped you could come to Rainforest... What do you think?」

Cain-sama asked with a splendid serious face. Go to Rainforest?

「As a matter of fact I got a letter from mother and uncle Claude that they wanted to see you.」

Claude-san and Irene-san. And even Stella-san.
It takes me back. I too wanted to see them.
Besides, I have to apologize for making them worry.
Rainforest is on the road to Rubyfallen, if I think about making a visit then perhaps...

If I get lost opening doors is like opening gacha.

「Sorry~ for the-! ...Wait.」
Mama had returned. She totally said the first part in her usual mannerisms.

I was interested in everyone's reaction, but they didn't seem to mind it much. She bowed with a feeling of 『Sorry for the intrusion』.
I hurriedly served mama her share of the ice cream on a plate.

She ate my handmade ice cream and said it was tasty. And then I finally received the 『As expected of Ryou!』 I longed for.
As expected of mama Kou, she accurately said the words I wanted to hear the most.

While enjoying the compliment, I discussed our plans for the long term vacation with mama Kou.

「What? To Rainforest?」
After hearing from me if it was possible to stop by Rainforest mama Kou was left a bit surprised but returned to listening.

Cain-sama leaned in to ask mama Kou a question.
「Yes. My mother really wants to see Ryou. Even if it's just for a few days I hope you could spend some time at the Rainforest residence. Is it possible?」

「I see... What do you want?」
Mama Kou tilted her head and asked me if I wanted to go.

「Yes, I really want to meet them too and thank them for their hospitality.」

「It should be fine I think. It isn't possible for me to close the shop during the entirety of Ryou's vacation so if you could take care of Ryou for me. I'll meet up afterwards and continue to Rubyfallen from there.」

「Yes! Will do! Thank you very much!」
Cain-sama smiled while thanking mama Kou and called out to Alan.

「Alan! Ryou will come to Rainforest!」

Alan was squatting a little further from where we were sitting and was looking at the cream in the middle of the experiment with great interest.
I'm begging you, please don't touch the experiment.

When Cain-sama called him out, Alan who was in trance with the cream looked at us with a dumb look on his face.

「Vacation, to-, together with Ryou?」
「Yes, I'll be in your care」
「...hmm」
Replying to me with 「hmm」, what a rude henchman. But it's the first time he's mumbling so I'm sure he's delighted.

I see. I'll be able to see the people at Rainforest again.

「Ah! Ryou! It has started to solidify a bit!」
While Alan was saying this he had lifted up the leather bag containing the cream that was in the middle of the experiment without my permission.
Hey! Didn't I tell you not to touch that!

I went to the spot while thinking that.

It was just as Alan said. The cream in the one that contained the ice magic stones had hardened, however the other one hadn't.

I see, with this the results are out!
Ah well, I already knew the outcome because we already made and ate ice cream.
But if you don't do a proper comparison you can't come to a correct understanding, or so it was written in a textbook from my previous life.

「Can we eat this?」
Alan asked while pointing at the leather bag.
Go ahead and eat it, is what I wanted to say but Alan already had some stuck on his cheek.

Hey, if you're gonna eat it anyway why bother asking? If you're that greedy I wont care if your stomach starts hurting. 

「Huh? It's a different from the ice cream we ate before. It's crunchy. Though it's still tasty」
「Unlike before I didn't stir it while freezing, it also took longer to freeze so the ice crystals are bigger.」

As I explained this to Alan, I silently recalled the conclusions of all the experiments up until now.

Ice magic stones have a similar effect to that of salt lowering the melting point of ice.
Holding it above a fire the flame became violet.
Licking it gave a salty taste.

So ice magic stones are the same as 『saltpeter』 in my previous life.

Translator notes

[1] The previous translator "translated" this as "Kou okaasan".

[2] I wanted to use an appropriate English word but could only think of "transvestite" which didn't feel appropriate imho. I'm open to suggestions.





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