Side Story: Souvenir and Technological Innovation

"… Ooooooh! This is wonderful!"

When I gave Nerune the [Permanent Fountain Pen-kun] as a souvenir from sightseeing in the Imperial Capital, she was absolutely thrilled.

"Grrr, I want to take it apart… but it has protection on it, and if you disassemble it, there's apparently a mechanism that makes the magic formation disappear…!"

"There's something like that?"

"It was written in the corner of the manual! As expected of [Hero Studio]!"

I wonder if it's some kind of cheat skill from God's Vanguard, a hero.

"Hmm, so making a copy would be impossible then."

"It looks like the ink refills when you channel magic power into it. Water, and black… maybe earth?"

By the way, the fountain pen has a transparent panel on its side so you can see the remaining ink level.

Additionally, the ink colors aren't just black—there are also colorful options like red, blue, and green. I only bought the most basic black one this time though.

"Is the ink made with water?"

"Isn't it?"

"I don't know either. Maybe they use oil or something?"

As for normal ink, apparently it's made using a magic tool from [Hero Studio] called [Ink Maker-kun]. How is that normal…

"… In other words, this [Hero Studio] place is basically monopolizing all the technology."

"That's right. Or maybe no one else could imitate them."

Considering they've kept the workshop running for several hundred years, they've probably made things like [Magic Tools That Make Magic Tools]. Or maybe the original person is still alive.

… Let's not think too deeply about it.

By the way, I didn't buy the [Pot That Needs No Firewood] or [Heating Pot-kun], but I told her about those kinds of things.

"The [Stove] that Master mentioned before is more convenient. You can use it with normal pots, and swapping them is easy. Since it's a magic tool, it's just a single iron plate so it doesn't take up space either."

"… Come to think of it, a stove is pretty convenient."

"Ah, right. Gar-kun, bring me Fire Prototype Number 16… Yes, thank you."

Nerune's assistant gargoyle silently brought over a box and handed it to her.

When Nerune took the box from the gargoyle and patted its head, the gargoyle seemed satisfied and returned to its corner of the room.

Inside the box was an unglazed clay plate with a magic formation carved into it.

"This is the prototype stove. Since it's a prototype, it's made of clay, but I used the dial magic formation from when we made the kotatsu, so the heat can be adjusted."

The prototype stove had a dial and five protrusions serving as a trivet to place a pot on. When did you make such a handy gadget?

As an adventurer's essential, maybe I should have her make one for me. I did become a B-Rank adventurer after all, so I'd like useful tools like this.

"As expected of Nerune, making something like that."

"… It's thanks to Master. Since it's made of clay, it'll break if you put it in a bag to carry around, but Master could easily mass-produce them with iron plates, right?"

Mass-producing them with iron plates isn't impossible, but it would be a pain. Very much so.

Besides, the whole stove would probably get hot while being used.

In that case, let's just have her make one using that unglazed plate without worrying about portability. Having a one-of-a-kind prototype sounds good.

"Right, can you make a wooden base that the unglazed plate can fit into? I want strength for the protrusions, so let's drill holes there and insert iron plates. Um… drilling holes here won't affect the magic formation, right?"

I borrowed the unglazed plate for a moment and used [Create Golem] to shave away the blank areas and turn the protrusions into holes. After that, I just need to make a wooden board to fit it and insert iron plates to complete it.

Yeah, a slim stove—it's looking good.

"… If that's the case, covering it with a wooden lid when carrying it would reduce the worry of it breaking. That way it can stay clay, and I can make it without troubling Goshujin-sama."

"Oh, nice. As expected of Nerune. Then please make it that way."

Oh, she'll even make a lid. Our researcher really is excellent.

I returned the unglazed plate with the magic formation to Nerune. When it's done, I'll show it off to Gozoh.

"I'm not excellent, it's all thanks to Goshujin-sama."

"Don't be modest, Nerune. I'm counting on you!"

"… I'm not being modest though. The ideas, you see…"

Nerune let out a sigh.

"Unlimited magic stones, permission to make magic formations with clay—if Kantra-shishou heard about this, she'd roll her eyes and faint, you know?"

"Ah! Come to think of it, I want to add a timer to the oven. Can you make it link with a golem timer? I want a switch that you twist, and it stays ON until it returns to the original position."

"See, there you go innovating again!? Uwaaaan!"

Nerune started hitting me lightly.

Hahaha, what a cute girl. It hurts a little, so please stop soon.

Later, it turned out that my "please make it that way" was interpreted as "mass-produce them that way," and ten slim stoves were completed.

Mass production became possible… I only needed one though.

I decided to give Nerune a tabletop toaster oven (made from phoenix eggshells) as a bonus for her laboratory. I tried kneading together the stove and phoenix eggshells with [Create Golem], and something like it actually came out.

Now she can eat as much toast as she wants. I wonder if she'll be happy.

"… Kantra-shishou would die of shock. Well, it makes firing clay in the laboratory easy, so things will go even smoother."

"Ah, is that so?"

"Yes, thank you so much… Also, a tabletop oven is another new thing."

… Well, she seems happy, so that's good.

For now, I'll give Kinue-san one of the remaining stoves and put the rest in the dungeon's treasure chests. As jackpot prizes.