The First Step in Business

He had gotten so hung up on the technical side that he had completely forgotten even something this basic.

The next day, Subaru received a large basin of steaming animal fat from Rem. It smelled delicious, and it would surely make some incredibly tasty fried chicken and mayonnaise. As always, Rem's cooking was impeccable.

That was right. Subaru was going to make a lighter and earn his first pot of gold in this other world.

His original plan had been to find a way to recreate modern weapons and make himself stronger, but by a twist of fate, he had ended up making a contract with Antares, giving his combat strength a qualitative leap.

Now that his survival was assured for the time being, it was time to move on to the next step-making money.

For the first time since coming to this other world, Subaru took a day off. From early morning, he raced all over the village, keeping busy nonstop.

First came the lighter's casing: a small rectangular sheet-iron box with an opening at the top for adding fuel and a threaded cap to seal it. When Subaru handed the plans to Baren the blacksmith, the older man was still hard at work on his pistol order.

This job was much simpler, though. All it took was hammering a few pieces of sheet iron and welding on a few small parts, and Baren finished it looking almost bored.

For the wick, Subaru twisted the gauze left over from bandaging the Ground Dragon into a strip. A thin copper tube cost only a few copper coins at the general store and was just right for drawing up the fuel.

The general store also sold flint. All he had to do was pick out a decent-looking piece.

With all the materials gathered, it was time to assemble them!

The lighter was finished!

It was modeled after a Zippo, and its structure was simple enough that Subaru could have drawn a cross section with his eyes closed. The metal casing felt cool in his hand. Though the finished product was still an empty shell with no fuel in it, it already had the unmistakable air of a "modern industrial product."

Excited, Subaru picked up the basin of animal fat Rem had prepared and was about to pour it into the lighter when he suddenly stopped.

There was no liquid oil left in the basin. A great mass of white paste sat quietly at the bottom.

...Right. Animal fat solidified. Like this, it couldn't possibly be drawn up the wick.

"Wow, what fragrant cooking fat. Little brother, are you planning to treat this old man to a meal?"

Baren, who had been helping Subaru all day, leaned closer. His nostrils flared slightly, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his big hands rubbed together again and again without his noticing.

"Uncle Baren, is there any oil around here that doesn't solidify?"

"Oil that doesn't solidify? What do you need that for, little brother? Of course oil has to solidify before you can use it to make candles and oil lamps."

"...Looks like I oversimplified the problem. How am I supposed to get vegetable oil?" Subaru scratched his head, sounding a little dejected.

"But does that strange little thing in your hand need that kind of oil?" Baren leaned over to look at the metal lighter in Subaru's palm. "As for oil that doesn't solidify, isn't there some in the oil swamp outside the village? That stuff's especially intolerant of other things. It pushes out all impurities, and the surface looks exactly like an ordinary patch of grass. It's very dangerous."

"...Huh? You're right!"

Subaru snapped his head up. Leaving aside the fact that the oil pool had killed him, that oil really was unbelievably clean.

It had no impurities and flowed extremely well. Even after he had been submerged in it for so long, it hadn't left any residue on his clothes.

"You've been a huge help again, Uncle! I'm off-"

Subaru was just about to dash out when he noticed that Baren's eyes were still glued to the animal fat in the pottery basin.

"This... was a gift from Rem."

But then he thought again. Rem had rendered so much of it that he couldn't use it all anytime soon. Wouldn't letting it spoil be an even greater waste of her hard work?

Subaru crouched down again, found a clean little clay jar, and carefully filled it with a third of the fat from the basin. Then he pushed it toward Baren.

"Someone made this for me, so it wouldn't be quite right to give you all of it-but I can decide what to do with a third! Take it home and have your wife warm it up. It's delicious spread on bread or used to stir-fry vegetables."

"This is my first adventure in another world, Anta! Let's do our best so we can live like rich people someday!"

Standing at the edge of the village, Subaru pointed one finger at the dense forest ahead and made his declaration with great gusto.

Antares obligingly circled him several times at once, the emotions he conveyed full of eager excitement.

Now that he had the ability to protect himself, Subaru decided to enter the forest outside the village and look for the oil pool that had once killed him.

There probably wouldn't be any major problems. After all, Rem usually dared to come out alone to dig up sweet potatoes. To the Oni, this forest was no more dangerous than a backyard.

He was a spirit arts user now, at least. Surely he could handle something on the level of digging up sweet potatoes.

First, he strengthened his body with Mana. That familiar power filled his limbs, making his steps lighter and his senses a little sharper. Subaru steeled himself and stepped into the dense forest that held the memories of two deaths.

"Oh, right, Anta. Don't the other Lesser Spirits reject you because they think you stink? Is it okay for us to absorb the Mana out here in the wild?"

"You stored that smelly Mana in me? So you don't stink anymore?"

The corner of Subaru's mouth twitched. As he walked, he kept an eye on his surroundings and tried hard to remember the route Rem had taken when she rescued him.

The forest was full of little sounds: the rustle of leaves brushing together, the buzz of unknown insects' wings, and the occasional faint birdcall in the distance. Everything seemed peaceful.

Just as Subaru was feeling his way forward, a powerful sensation suddenly struck him from behind!

It was neither a sound nor a smell. It was like someone pressing a piece of ice against his spine and dragging it hard across the bone. It was the scent of malice!

"Shamac!"

His reaction was faster than thought. Subaru formed an icicle behind him and fired it straight at the source of the malice.

With a whoosh, the feeling of malice vanished in an instant.

Only then did Subaru turn around and carefully push aside the bushes behind him with a branch.

On the ground lay a cobra with a horn on its head, its skull pinned through by the icicle. Its body was still twitching slightly.

"Was this thing trying to ambush me? What was that just now? Was it spider sense?!"

A thought from Antares immediately surfaced in his mind, answering his question.

Because they had made a contract, Subaru also shared the Lesser Spirit's keen ability to sense emotions.

Lesser Spirits were crystallizations of Mana, naturally highly sensitive to fluctuations in their surroundings, and those fluctuations readily extended to emotions.

The stronger a spirit was, the more clearly it could perceive emotions.

For example, because he wasn't a good person, even if he treated a Lesser Spirit to a meal of Mana, it would still remain wary of Subaru.

Back then, Antares had approached Subaru of his own accord not because of that meal, but because, as he perceived it, Subaru was very "pure" and held no malice.

"...So you're saying I'm a hopelessly nice guy. Well, you're not wrong. I'm proud to be a good person! It's all thanks to the fine upbringing my dependable parents gave me!"

Another thought came from Antares, adding that, for now, he could only sense particularly intense emotions, such as the undisguised malice of the snake just now.

He still couldn't pick up ordinary, faint emotional fluctuations. Subaru nodded.

"Got it... Waaah!"

Suddenly, without warning, his foot met empty air. His whole body plunged downward, and a suffocatingly familiar sensation closed in around him from all sides-it was the oil pool.

But this time was completely different.

"El Shuma!"

Subaru thrust a hand toward the bank. A pillar of ice sprang from the ground, its white crystals rapidly extending toward his palm like a living thing.

He grabbed the cold, solid pillar and increased his output of Mana. The pillar began to rise, steadily lifting him out of the viscous oil until his feet were back on solid ground.

Subaru lightly hopped into a safe area and looked back at the oil swamp, whose calm surface was indistinguishable from ordinary grass. He gasped for breath-and then broke into a foolish grin.

"Ha... ha... idiot! I'm not dying here again! I'm not the same as I used to be!"

He had once needed an eight-year-old girl to save him from that trap with his life. Now he had dealt with it effortlessly. A tremendous sense of accomplishment welled up in Subaru, more satisfying than winning ten games in a row. He crouched down and reached a hand toward the oil swamp.

"Come on, it's time to pay your debt. Let me see if you can help. I'll be looking forward to it."

(A transitional chapter. The author feels the pacing is a little fast. Is it reading okay?)