Read Novel Full Chapter 121, Unveiling the Prototype
Chapter 121, Unveiling the Prototype
Translator: Barnnn
“Hey, it’s been a week, hasn’t it?” Paula greeted them with a lazy wave from behind the counter. “How was it? The Undead Dungeon?”
“We found a weird Padre squatting there,” Hal replied dryly.
“And Saintess Hal was born,” Ize added sarcastically.
“Ize’s spell control has improved by leaps and bounds,” Fieda said, grinning.
Paula tilted her head, lips pursed. “Hmm… there’s a lot to unpack there, but as long as you’re in one piece, that’s what counts.”
“How’s the prototype coming along on your end, Miss Paula?” Ize asked.
“I’ve got it over there. Cooked some rice with it, too — go on and have some.”
“”Ooh!”” Ize and Hal cried in unison, already making their way to the counter.
The three had returned to the Capital after a week’s absence and made their way straight to The Ark’s Dove, the magical tool shop they had all but adopted as their base of operations.
With bowls of freshly steamed rice — cooked in Paula’s experimental rice cooker — in hand, they sat down to share their experience in the Undead Dungeon.
“That was our first time making it all the way to the end of a Dungeon,” Hal said, leaning back. “But it felt kind of… anticlimactic.”
“I know, right?” Ize nodded. “I thought there’d be a ‘FLASH!’ followed by a ‘Congratulations!’ or something.”
Paula chuckled. “And what would THAT look like, exactly?”
Fieda explained with a smirk, “They were hoping that defeating the final Mystic Beast would trigger some dramatic transformation or event.”
“Ahh, I see,” Paula mused. “Well then, you might be in luck. I think there IS a Dungeon like that in Adoghan.”
“Seriously!?” Hal shot up in his seat.
“That’s amazing!” Ize clapped her hands.
With a grunt, Paula rummaged through the shelves behind her, eventually pulling out a thick, yellowed bundle of papers — some edges frayed, others brittle with age.
“What’s that?” Fieda asked, eyeing the bundle.
“A list of what can be harvested from the Dungeons I know,” Paula replied. “I figured I didn’t need it anymore since I’ve no plans to return to Adoghan, so…”
Despite her words, she’d located it suspiciously fast. It looked like it had been thumbed through hundreds of times.
The trio watched in silence as Paula carefully turned the pages.
“Ah, here it is,” she said at last, tapping one page with a finger. “Far to the south — almost at the edge of the Forsaken Lands.”
Hal leaned in and read aloud, squinting at the archaic text. “Kyuzedobaryena… Kyuze… do… paryu…?”
“It’s named in an ancient dialect from one of Adoghan’s outer islands,” Paula explained. “Kyuze-do-baryenjido-gaesha — but it’s more commonly called the ‘Spouting Whale.'”
The words rolled off her tongue with unexpected fluency, far too complex to grasp in a single hearing.
“Spouting Whale?” Hal parroted. “Why that name?”
“The Dungeon’s entrance is near the coast, but the final floor lies in the middle of the ocean. And when you complete the Dungeon, it launches you back to the surface in a towering jet of water — like a whale spouting from the sea.”
Ize grimaced. “After all that work, you just get launched? That sounds… humiliating.”
“But isn’t it a rather dramatic finish?” Paula countered.
“Not the kind I was hoping for,” Hal muttered.
“It’s not quite what I expected, either,” Ize agreed, frowning.
Paula pouted slightly. “Sheesh, you kids are hard to please.”
Fieda sighed in exasperation. “What DO you want out of a Dungeon, anyway?”
“Well, for starters — what kind of materials do you get from an undersea Dungeon?” Ize asked, intrigued now as she skimmed the notes.
“Gems and Magicite, mostly — stuff you’d expect from the ocean. But the Magicite in that one’s special. Sometimes it comes out perfectly spherical, or even colored. How rare they are just makes them more valuable. Fetches an excellent price — very popular Dungeon.”
“Colored Magicite…” Ize murmured, eyes sparkling. “I’d love to see that!”
Most Magicite was irregular in shape and translucent at best. Colored ones were typically only seen in the gateway stones at Dungeon entrances — and if those ever turned fully to one color, it was considered an ill omen.
If a Dungeon offered colored Magicite as loot, however, it might be worth a look.
“Just to be clear,” Hal asked, “when you get launched at the end, you don’t — like — slam into the sea, right?”
“Nah, it’s safe,” Paula reassured. “There’s a big net set up at the landing zone. Though I HAVE heard of a few people getting launched in weird directions. In those cases, the Guild staff slow their fall with magic.”
Hal exhaled in relief. The idea of swimming through the open ocean in full gear after a brutal battle was not one he relished.
“So,” Paula said, shifting the topic, “how was the Undead Dungeon? I’ve heard it’s not exactly popular this time of year.”
“…Let’s just say,” Ize replied with a wrinkled nose, “the reason for that is better discussed AFTER a meal, not during.”
The two others nodded grimly in agreement, their faces a study in shared revulsion.
“Fair enough,” Paula said, chuckling. “So? How’s the rice? Personally, I think it’s nearly indistinguishable from what you’d get cooking it in a real pot.”
“It’s perfect,” Hal said, lifting his bowl. “Not dried out, not soggy — just fluffy and warm.”
“It’s delicious!” Ize chimed in.
“Hmm…” Fieda nodded thoughtfully. “I used to think rice was just rice. Hal always whined about the stuff he brought, but now I get it. This IS different. Each grain separates easily in the mouth, yet it’s not dry or hard.”
Paula blinked, momentarily stunned by his sudden poetic turn.
Ize and Hal, however, just shook their heads and continued eating.
“Did the adjustments to the magical tool work out?” Hal asked once the moment passed.
Paula brightened. “Yup! It all started with your idea to add a timer. I ended up using a heating kettle as a reference.”
“A kettle?” Ize parroted.
“Oh, you mean the kind nobles use when serving tea,” Hal guessed.
“Ahh, I see… I heard about something like that back in Bezbaro,” Ize said.
Zoddoa had mentioned that nobles’ maids often carried them around.
Though she didn’t know exactly how it was constructed, Ize assumed, from the name alone, that it couldn’t be too different from the kettles commonly used in Japan.
“There are actually a few different types,” Paula explained, waving her hand loosely. “Some measure the temperature inside the pot, others work by tracking the difference between that and the outside air, and then there are those that detect vibrations inside the pot.”
“Vibrations?” Ize parroted, the word catching her off-guard.
She struggled to connect the image of a kettle with anything that might shake or shudder.
Paula chuckled. “When it boils, the water bubbles violently, right? That bubbling causes the pot to vibrate. In fact, it’s this type that I based the rice cooker’s design on.”
“So when the rice finishes cooking, the vibrations stop?”
“Exactly,” Paula nodded, pleased. “No more vibration means the water’s gone. The cooker detects that drop in movement, cuts the flame, and lets it rest. And that’s when the rice finishes.”
“Ooh, now that’s the power of technology,” Ize said, her eyes wide in admiration.
There was something cool — almost stylish — about Paula’s inventive mindset. Smiling to herself, she scooped a generous portion of simmered root vegetables into her bowl. The flavor had soaked in beautifully, yet the vegetables still held their texture. Another bit of culinary magic.
“Are you planning to sell it?” Fieda asked.
“I am,” Paula replied cheerfully. “I got plenty of Magicite and funding for materials. I’ll start by making a few and try selling them to fellow folks from Adoghan. I bet they’ll appreciate not having to sit next to the fire the entire time the rice is cooking. Especially in summer — that’s a real punishment.”
“But didn’t you say before that magical tools weren’t always well received?”
“Ah, that doesn’t apply to the ones here in Tajellia. They understand convenience, and they like using their time wisely.”
“Then that’s good,” Fieda said with a relieved nod.
He had been worried that Paula might be treated coldly by her Adoghan peers for getting involved in what was, at its heart, Ize and Hal’s personal project. The rice cooker was, in many ways, a product of their selfish desires — they wanted to eat rice without the risk of messing it up. Because of that, Fieda had felt a pang of guilt about dragging Paula into it.
But in the end, Paula only laughed and waved off his concern.
“Oh, don’t be silly. I had a blast! Thinking of all those hours I used to spend staring down a stove, it makes me wonder why I didn’t develop this sooner.”
“Didn’t any Sages in the past come up with something like this?” Ize asked, tilting her head.
“You’d think someone from the homeland of Black-haired Sages might’ve thought of it,” Hal added.
“Well, since they were Sages, maybe they never had to cook for themselves in the first place,” Fieda pointed out plainly.
“”Ahhh…”” Ize and Hal let out a simultaneous sigh of disappointment.
Indeed, it was hard to imagine a Hero or Sage, treated like royalty, hunched over a kitchen stove, minding a bubbling pot.
“Even the Sage of Cuisine?” Ize asked.
“If they really were particular about food,” Fieda countered, “you’d think they would’ve cooked rice manually in a way only they could do.”
“Ahhh…” Another sigh from Ize, even deeper this time.
A Sage of Cuisine, who’d left behind so many recipes, surely would’ve documented the perfect way to cook rice manually. Unlike her and Hal — both picky eaters who couldn’t cook to save their lives — that Sage must have had the skill to match their passion.
“Well,” Fieda said lightly, “it just goes to show the importance of relying on others. Right person, right job.”
“In other words,” Ize said with a grin, “the art of passing the buck.”
“That’s right,” Hal said through a mouthful of rice, grinning smugly.
◆
They cleared the dishes from the table and brought out an assortment of sweets – gifts from Fuyuya. With the ones made with Kudyu beans, green tea was the obvious pairing.
“Now then,” Hal began, sipping from his tea and wincing as the heat burned his lips, “as for the Undead Dungeon… I’d say it was a fruitful expedition.”
“It was good training for fighting Undead,” Ize agreed.
“But,” Fieda added, “the Padre told us the Undead in Sooryab would be different.”
“Different how?” Paula asked. “Stronger?”
“No,” Fieda said. “He called them ‘Crumblers’ and ‘Dry Stuff.’ Crumblers are the rotting ones — like Zombies. Dry Stuff are the Skeletons and Liches.”
“Huh. I didn’t know there was a distinction like that,” Paula said, slicing a flower-shaped sweet. “I always thought an Undead Dungeon would just throw all of them at you.”
“Apparently the Dungeon’s unpopular because the Crumblers stink. Especially bad in summer.”
“Oh dear,” Paula winced. “That IS awful. You all weren’t bothered by the smell?”
“Nah,” Fieda said, raising his cup. “Thanks to a bit of advice from the Padre.”
“He’s a damn pervert,” Hal grumbled, “but his knowledge about Undead is solid.”
“C’mon, Hal, he wasn’t that bad,” Ize chuckled. “I mean, he did start breathing hard sometimes, and he said some weird things… and his eyes were kind of scary… but, you know…”
“Sounds like a pervert to me,” Paula said flatly.
“Definitely a pervert,” Fieda echoed.
“TOTALLY a pervert,” Hal confirmed.
Despite Ize’s half-hearted defense, the verdict was unanimous.
“So,” Paula said, eyes narrowing with mischief, “what’s this about ‘Saintess Hal’?”
“Oh, that,” Ize said, chuckling. “It was just — Hal had this divine glow about him when he blasted away the Undead. Looked just like a Saintess.”
“Well then, maybe don’t mention that at the church,” Paula said wryly.
“Yeah… probably for the best,” Hal muttered, eyeing Fieda, who sipped his tea with a serene, indifferent expression.
Hal turned back to Paula, a thought striking him.
“Wait, do they say Saintesses can only come from other worlds or something?”
“Something like that,” Paula nodded. “When there isn’t a Sage who specializes in light-elemental magic in the current age, they usually try to find someone with the bloodline — someone who can still use light magic.”
“Ughhh…” Hal groaned.
“Wow, you gotta seriously step up your game, Hal!” Ize encouraged, fists clenched.
“What do you mean, step up my game!?”
“You can’t lose to a bunch of people who were chosen just because of their bloodline!”
“I use WATER magic,” Hal said flatly. “YOU’re the one with light magic, remember?”
“Oh. Right.”
Ize grimaced, clearly uncomfortable. Paula gave her a dry, pitying look.
“Well, you’d best be careful in Sooryab,” Paula warned. “The church may be cooperating on paper, but I doubt they’ll send many Saintess candidates. And from what I hear, if a non-candidate light mage stands out too much… they might find themselves the target of some nasty harassment.”
“Then we need to keep Ize under the radar,” Hal said seriously.
“Yeah,” Fieda nodded. “We should talk to Wardon and Volhelm about this, too.”
As they watched Ize sip her green tea with contentment, Hal and Fieda exchanged a glance, silently vowing to keep her safe — whether she realized the danger or not.