Translator: P411

Editor: Sour

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 080 – A Person on Horseback With a Summoning Circle in Hand

Yuuta’s group’s plan was to ride back to the desert city with horses and after that, if there was an escort commission to Sette, they would proceed accordingly. 

I was sure, with their group’s high personal levels, the monsters along the way wouldn’t even be considered level-up materials to them. They did say the bandits that came out near the forested area during an escort mission contributed to a level-up, but then again, I would never want to experience that ever.

“Then, can you also take me to the desert city?”

“I’ll do it for 10 high potions.”

He attached a condition, so I immediately offered them up as a down payment. 

He swiftly put all of them into his inventory, grinning. “Thanks as always~”

Anyway, I let them wait for me a bit and checked my belongings. 

I could get herbs there locally, so the next step was to check my warehouse inventory. 

I looked at the [ Alchemy Cauldron ] there and thought for a moment. 

If the strange crops from Sei’s farm ended up being alchemy related, I wondered if it would be needed… Hmm, what should I do?

After thinking it over for a while, I threw it into my inventory. The rest was my alchemy recipe collection and Sara-san’s belongings. 

No one could steal or look inside what was in the inventory so I assumed it was safe.

Before I completely forgot, I needed to put in the lace doily Regalo-san gifted me since I was low on MP. 

I also needed to add the cooking set and simple dispensing set that I always carried with me. 

From my inventory, I took the robe with the color that wasn’t to my liking but had a high defense and put it on, while not forgetting to reattach my feather charm to the new robe.

I held the feather tightly and turned back. 

“I’d like to stop at the general store on the way, is that alright?”

“I also have some business there. I want to buy a lot of those healing items.”

Holding an ancient language book in my hand, we left the workshop.

“Thanks for this. I’ve read all of it.”

“Really? You’re amazing, Mac. Are you able to draw it now?”

“Ahahahahahaha…”

Crash really hit me where it hurt the most, so I tried to laugh it off and immediately put all the items I wanted on the counter. 

Yuuta’s group also bought all kinds of potions and put them in their inventory. 

“Are you going to Sei’s castle town? Ehh, well, be careful.”

The moment I told him my destination, Crash squeezed my hands and whispered in a low voice, 

“Maybe because I don’t have a good impression of those aristocrats, but don’t go inside the castle walls inside that town. That place is scary.”

“Crash…”

I see. The one who killed Crash’s father was one of those aristocrats. A whole town full of them seemed like nothing but a gateway to hell for him. 

“Okay, I’ll be careful. And besides, I only have business with the farm, so I think I won’t go anywhere else but the farm.”

“If you say so. But, be extra careful. Ah, right! Mac, wait a sec.”

He let go of my hands and disappeared behind the counter. 

Yuuta, who was nearby, was watching the whole scene with half-narrowed suspicious eyes. 

“You’re really such a player.”

“Wha-?!”

Me! A player! What a thing to say to your friend!

Crash was just a friend and not someone who was charmed by me or something!

I puffed my cheeks against Yuuta’s ridiculous remark. Crash was puzzled when he came back and saw this.

“What just happened? Can I poke those cheeks? Well, I mean, Mac, here.”

He really did poke my cheeks while handing me a piece of paper.

There was a summoning circle drawn on the paper. 

“Practice hard so that you can at least draw this magic circle. Absolutely make sure you don’t make a single mistake. After you remember the pattern, you can try to improve it but, for now, you only know the ancient magic language right? You must memorize it exactly as it is.”

“I-I will work hard,” I nodded my head while peeking at the paper. 

Crash finally sighed in relief.

“I also learned this recently, but if anything goes wrong, this will surely come in handy.”

I felt a sense of despair knowing that I wouldn’t be able to memorize this high level of summoning circle using ancient magic language without making a mistake. All I could do was nod my head in defeat. No, I-I will do my best. My first step of this summoning magic circle. If Crash said that this would come in handy, it really would. But wait a sec, doesn’t this situation look like some sort of red flag?

After finally riding horseback with Yuuta, I just single-mindedly stared at the summoning circle.¹

Instead of writing it down, I first learned to read, which took me getting to the eighth level in understanding ancient magic language to do. I truly worked hard. 

But when I tried to read those words on the summoning circle, there were words that I didn’t understand like [ Magic Expansion ], [ Simple Magic Concentration ], [ Magic Spread = Magic End ], etc, on the outer rim of the magic circle. From there, they were connected with beautiful patterns like words. Oh god, too complicated. 

“Sage-san could draw all of this in an instant. He’s beyond human…”

My respect for him grew again when I recalled how his fingers moved while drawing the circle. 

Crash also drew those circles quite effortlessly. Will I be able to draw like them one day?

While I was sighing alone in my own world, Yuuta tried to look at the paper from behind me. It kinda hurt when his jaw dug into my shoulder. 

“I don’t have a single clue of what that is. So this is summoning magic? I thought it was something simpler.”

“Umm— but Crash drew the circle like this. I don’t think I can do it.”

“Well, for me, this is all just some kind of pattern. What is this list of symbols?”

“It’s an ancient magic language. There are meanings to all these characters.” 

I held up the paper a little so that he could see it, but all he gave was a half-hearted reply, “Hmm.”

Well, I was also the same. Before I could read them, they were just a bunch of symbols. 

He took his chin off my shoulders. He no longer had an interest in the summoning circle and just went back to concentrate on steering the horse. 

Before we reached the desert, I remembered the spring where horses could take a rest to drink water. 

“Takahashi, Takahashi, could you slow down a bit? Turn around those bushes. If you go a little further in, there’s a watering hole.”

“Okay, let’s head over. So where is it?”

Relying on my memory, I looked around, and found it! There was a small opening between the leaves. I would never have noticed it if I had walked straight ahead. This place wasn’t visible at all on a map, not even as a road.

“There, that place. Quick horses can go in, so I think our horses can also get in, too.”  

After confirming the place where I pointed, Yuuta skillfully changed the horse’s direction with the reins. After checking that all of his excited-looking friends were following his lead, he advanced forward. 

We’re already moving off the map.

After advancing for a while, we reached the end of the road. 

“It really was there.”

“Can I get off for a minute?”

“Sure.”

We dismounted the horse and approached the spring.

I took out an empty bottle and filled it with spring water. When I appraised it, it was written as below.

[ Quattro Forest Spring: Clean spring water with few impurities, increase self-recovery small,  stamina restoration small ]

This forest was called [ Quattro Forest ]. This was the first time I had heard of it.

And this water.

When I drank it from a bottle, it was very cold and refreshing.

“This water has a slight effect of shortening self-recovery duration. That’s why quick horses like drinking water here. Including stamina restoration… This is truly amazing even though it’s just water.”

I was so happy that I filled up all my remaining empty bottles. The weightlessness property of inventory was very useful in these situations and I ended up filling up around 50 bottles. Thank you, Nature for your gifts!

We all drank water, including our horses, and even though the clearing was small, it was just in time for lunch so we decided to have a meal there.

Of course, we had a simple bread roll sandwich. We couldn’t expect to deploy all the cooking equipment within a small space. 

The four horses started chewing grass, so we also decided to have our meal. 

“Even so, I had no idea there was such a hidden spot at this place. I never noticed it before.”

“I only knew about this place from a quick horse, too.”

When I answered like this, Brave stared at me with a strange look on his face. 

“Mac, you know, how should I put this? You never go on the frontline and look like you play leisurely at your own pace, but you always seem to get caught up in some weird stuff in some weird places. Maybe I should work with you instead. This might be fun.”

“Brave, are you openly having an affair in front of me?”

Kairi opened her mouth, wearing a beautiful smile at Brave’s questionable remark.

Wait, please don’t involve me in this blood bath. 

While I was sweating watching over the scene, Brave laughed and lifted Kairi’s chin with his finger. 

The two lovers gazed at one another. 

“What are you talking about? I’m cheating with Mac? That’s impossible. There’s no room in my heart for anyone but you, so don’t be anxious.”

“I’m happy…”

Okay, you can do it. But please don’t use me in your love games. I already have my precious pair, Vidello-san. Anyway, Masuda-kun, are you even a boy? All of his gestures were exactly like a girl’s. 

Despite everything, we all made it to the desert city without incident. Yep, I couldn’t stand another second being the fifth wheel between the two pairs of couples. 

When I apologized to Yui for sharing a horse with Yuuta, her cheeks flushed red and she said, “D-don’t worry, I decided not to include boys in the cheating category.” This made me lose my mental strength instead. She then instantly received a head chop from Yuuta.²

From here on out, I would move separately from Takahashi and his group of merry friends.

Ok, I’m gonna liven up my mood and head to Sei’s castle town.