Translator: Reo

Editor: Prius

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 078 – The Continent of Monsters and The First Generation Demon King

[ NEW – Steep that tea!

Crash would like some after-meal tea

Let’s brew some tea to make Crash happy!

Clear reward: Friendship level up, dried evening primrose tea leaves

Quest failure: Friendship level down, general store restriction – 1 day ]

As I selected some tea leaves from Crash’s store, I quickly glanced at the quest window.

Ahaha, what is this? What does it mean by general store restriction – 1 day? I guess it means I won’t be able to leave the store until tomorrow. What’s up with that? So if I don’t brew the tea well enough, Crash will start to hate me? And even though he’s going to hate me, I’ll be trapped in the store with him? 

That kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

“You can use whichever. I’ll give them to you as a freebie. I’m counting on you to make it delicious,” Crash said, grinning in his chair, giving me his vague permission.

Desperately turning on my appraisal skill, I scrounged from one tea leaf to the next.

I wonder what kind of tea would make Crash happy. He told me to make it delicious.

Sloppy requests like this were needlessly hard. It would have been so easy if the request was like “Let’s make this kind of tea.”

No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t find the answer and my hand froze midair.

When I casually turned to look behind me, I saw Crash. He had that usual pretty smile on his face.

Speaking of which, that time with the escorting quest, I was desperate to keep that smile on his face. How peaceful this request was compared to that.

And it’s not like Crash is going to die or anything. He’ll just like me a little bit less. 

What? So that’s what this was? He wanted me to take it a bit easier or something?

I let out a huff and started choosing tea leaves that were healthier than they were tasty. From this point on, I’ll use my pharmacist skills to their fullest.

I blended together all the leaves that looked nourishing. In the meantime, apart from boiling some water, I also washed the small part from earlier so that I could use it.

I chopped up some Meile berries into small pieces and threw them into the pot. I added some honey and put it on the stove.

When the water finished boiling, I put the tea blend into a teapot, let it steep, and brought it over to where Crash was waiting. He’d already set out the cups.

I put the thick Meile jam I just made in a dish, put a spoon in it, and set it down in front of Crash as well. As I did, Crash personally poured tea into my cup.

He poured some for himself as well and breathed in the fragrance.

“Ah, it has a nice fragrance. You used dried flowers in this, right? This pretty golden color… the main ingredient must be evening primrose.”

“Correct. It’s very good for your body. You should also try drinking it with the jam.”

“Then, well this is just tea but, cheers. Mac, drink some too.”

As if going along with Crash’s laughter, the corners of my lips also turned up and I reached out for my cup as well.

Yup, it has a good fragrance.

These flowers were used to treat paralysis. They smelled nice and I was wondering if they could be used for other things as well. Adding them in was a good choice.

I watched as Crash brought the cup to his lips and lifted my own cup as well.

It was moderately bitter at first and then a refreshing taste spread in my mouth. It was minty and delicious.

“Delicious…” Crash murmured with a satisfied sigh.

When he’d drunk about half the cup, he scooped up some jam and dropped it into his tea. He stirred the jam in and the golden color was tinted slightly pink. The berries were red, after all.

A sweet smell was added to the flowery scent, making for a rather pleasant aroma.

“Ah, this is also delicious. That is some good jam.”

Seemingly pleased, Crash downed the rest of the cup in one gulp. When his cup was empty, the quest window let out a ping. Guess the quest’s been cleared.

“Could I have some more? I’d like for you to make this again, so I’ll give you some evening primrose tea leaves. You should definitely make it for me again.”

I’m glad—looks like he likes it.

Relieved, I also plopped some jam into my tea and stirred it in with a spoon.

The bitterness disappeared and it became a flavorful, sweet tea.

Maybe Crash actually had a sweet tooth.

As I put the tea leaves I got into my inventory, I watched Crash hum as he poured himself another cup and added a generous spoonful of jam. He looked my way and innocently asked,

“Could you give me what’s left of this jam? I’d like to eat it with my bread tomorrow.”

---

I decided to practice my writing, so I had Crash lend me the ancient magical language book. After all, I’d probably become a nuisance if I kept practicing at Crash’s store all of the time. Also, quite a lot of customers visit the store and I’d definitely be in the way.

Until it was time to log out, I kept single-mindedly copying down letters. Again and again.

When the pen I was holding slipped across the page, I came to with a start.

Ah, I just fell asleep. The markings on the page clearly showed it. I sighed seeing these strange, illegible letters.

I managed to level it up to level 3, but it would be bad if I didn’t get some sleep in soon. It was 1:30 am and my alarm had already gone off. 

I eagerly moved my body to the bed next to me and logged out.

---

It’s the weekend! I woke up in the morning, got out of bed in high spirits, and headed toward the kitchen.

I’ll log in after breakfast.

Thinking that, I opened the fridge, and Mom, who was getting ready to leave for work, stepped out of the back room.

“Ah, have a good day.”

“I will. Say, Kengo. Don’t you have your end-of-term exams soon? Will you be ok just playing games all day? Put some of that passion into studying as well.”

Mom nagged me till my ears were sore and then left for work. Dad wasn’t here either—he’d left super early.

I am studying. But it’s the ancient magic language. It would be kind of difficult to put the same level of passion into schoolwork. I mean, schoolwork is so boring. I think they should teach a class on what to do when you don’t find school interesting no matter how hard you try. If they did, I’m sure a lot more people would find studying interesting.

I microwaved the leftover frozen curry and rice and shoveled it into my mouth along with some tea. Then I quickly went back to my room and put my gear on.

---

Well, I logged in with such enthusiasm, but…

Vidello-san’s still not here. He hasn’t come back yet. He’s still in Sei’s castle town.

Then should I try to level up my ancient magic language skills today and tomorrow?

The magic letters for the magic circles still haven’t popped up in my skill window, so I probably have to level up more if I want to use magic circles. Let’s do it!

I went straight for my desk instead of heading outside.

I continuously wrote stuff down, reading the words out loud as I went.

“The container was capable of creating anything. The container, said to have been brought down by a messenger of god, was passed from one race to another and later fell into the hands of one greedy race.”

My writing still needed a lot of work, but I was getting better at reading as my level went up. Since I could read it now, I was starting to get curious about the contents of the book.

It described the world before the birth of the demon king. The first chapter was about the creation of this world. The second chapter was about the division of the races and the third was about the birth of the demon king. This demon king wasn’t the one who had been defeated 15 years ago though. The book talked about the first-generation demon king. It kind of felt like I was reading the Old Testament.

“He was the man who was called the king who united the human race.

The man used the container and began to indulge in every luxury.

However, the king did not know that the container required an object of equal value in order to create something else.¹

Once he became aware of that fact, it was already too late. The king who had become accustomed to luxury could no longer contain his greed.”

My hand stopped writing and I started reading the book, my heart pounding. I even borrowed the [ Speed Reading ] skill to make it easier for me.

“The greedy king thought it wasteful to pay the price with the objects that lined his castle and thus took from those around him, indulging in yet more luxury.

In the end, the king had taken all but the things in his own castle for the sake of his extravagance. Even still, the king who had come to know the taste of luxury could not stop himself.

In the end, the body of the king, who wished for luxury without recompense, was captured in the container as payment.

Even after being trapped in the container, the king still wished for more.

His greed leaked out of the container and covered the king’s continent, giving birth to a shadow, a mass of unsightly desire.

The king’s desire was stronger than the container itself.

Monsters bowed down before it and, consumed by that desire, they ravished the human race.

More, more, the king’s cries seeped out of the container without end until, eventually, the king who had turned into a demon escaped his prison.

That was the first demon king.

Afterward, the continent of the king of monsters became a place of darkness where none but the monsters could live. It is said that, even now, the land births a mass of desire…”

Scary. What is this?

Could this be the origin of the monster continent? 

Could the container that was brought down by god’s messenger and could produce any object possibly be…?

My heart beating like crazy, I took a sidelong glance at my alchemy pot. It can’t be, right?

I’m a bit tired from all that reading, so I’m probably just having weird thoughts.

I closed the book and stretched out my back.

I’ll go see if Vidello-san is back yet and then go to Kyle-san’s place for a change of pace.

I put the alchemy pot I’d normally just leave out until now into my warehouse inventory, put my bag on, and left the workshop.