Chapter 74: Let’s Borrow the Power of the Fire Spirit Freia and Raise Our Living Standards Even Higher Than Before

We departed Tatale Village at dawn. After crossing one mountain and entering the plain, we could reach Solari Village, the next destination. By carriage it would take about half a day, so we planned to arrive by evening.

There are always bandits hiding in the passes between mountains, so scouts had been sent ahead.

While nodding along to the meaningless chit-chat in the carriage, I was thinking about last night’s events.

It’s true that almost all my attacks so far have relied heavily on the water spirit Wintia and the wind spirit Sylphie. Even with only Sylphie, I can control vacuum waves, so I can use powerful wind-cutting spells like . The water spirit Wintia also governs life, so I cherish a lot. I owe her everything. Even during camping, she can produce cold, delicious water blessed by her. Plus, I’ve successfully created composite spirit magic like . Wintia and Sylphie’s combined power is incredibly versatile.

And the earth spirit Belhia-neesan.

Earth has extremely high versatility. Of course I can make tables and chairs for camping, but I can create chopsticks, knives, forks, stone axes, plates, containers — everything. It’s no longer spirit magic in the sense of "casting a spell." When I tell Belhia-neesan what I want, she tries it and brings out the result. The two of us work together to create something. After use, it returns to the earth. At first it felt a little lonely, but when she hugged me from behind and said "It’s fine, you can make the same thing anytime," I was happy. Besides, there are powerful offensive spells like and , and defensive ones like . Belhia-neesan is a true all-rounder who can handle almost everything by herself.

And so, this time and in the future, I’ll need to use spirit magic that borrows the power of all three — Wintia, Sylphie, and Belhia — as well as Freia’s power. Freia was crying yesterday, so I have to be careful.

"What kind of magic would be good...?"

I looked out the carriage window at the scenery.

At first I thought Freia’s power would be useful for lighting campfires, but with today’s schedule we’re aiming to reach Solari Village in one day. After that we’ll stay in one more village in the Tarbal territory before heading to the final town in the territory, then the royal capital follows. So there probably won’t be any camping opportunities.

But when I thought about it carefully, I realized I could do a lot more if I borrowed Freia’s power.

For example, a drum bathtub!

...Well, there’s no such thing as a drum in this world, but I could ask Belhia to make something drum-like, have Wintia pour water in, and heat it from below with Freia’s power.

This is perfect!

I won’t have camping for a while, though.

Also, I might be able to do oven cooking.

Of course there’s no oven, but if I can keep fire burning for a long time, I can expand my cooking range and add more recipes. When we reach the royal capital, I could serve delicious food to the Coluna family and Lubengel family to raise my image.

The wild boar I roasted over a campfire last time tasted good, but the inside wasn’t fully cooked. At that time I only ate the outer meat in salad style. The internal organs and part of the inner meat went into a stew pot, and the remaining inner meat was turned into bacon or dried meat.

Maybe I could also try room heating.

It depends on how I materialize the fire element. Warm the room, warm my tentacles during a massage... Ah, I can probably change the temperature of my tentacles with my swirling energy.

Oh, maybe I can control hot wind with Sylphie’s power and make a composite spell! I could dry Irina’s freshly washed hair while combing it from behind. That might even be nice.

"...What are you grinning about, Yabe?"

Irina noticed me staring out the window muttering to myself and called out suspiciously.

...How does she know I’m grinning? I’m facing away from her and wearing a robe.

"No, I wasn’t thinking of anything special..."

Because I answered vaguely, Irina changed the subject.

"I thought I heard a girl’s sniffling voice coming from Yabe’s room last night..."

"Ah, I felt like I heard it too!"

Sarina jumped on the bomb right away.

"...Did a ghost appear?"

I answered without turning my face toward the window.

"Eeeh!? A girl’s sniffling voice — Yabe-san, you didn’t secretly bring her in, did you!?"

"What!?"

"Stop it, Luciana-chan! Why do you have to say such crazy things when you’re traveling with us?"

Luciana-chan’s outrageous comment made Lord Fenberg reach for the sword at his waist.

What do you think you’re doing?!

"I guess so... but it felt like it for a moment."

"Right."

It’s terrifying that even Irina thinks that. Sarina agreed without hesitation.

"Yabe’s appearance is seriously cool, so if people see it, the town girls will swarm him."

"That might be true!"

Irina, what idol am I exactly!? There’s no way that’s true, right?!

And Sarina, not everything needs to be absorbed.

"I’m not saying that. Don’t worry about it."

I can’t say "Freia cried because I ignored her." If I did, Freia would get angry later.

"Lord Yabe, I know this is obvious, but premarital negotiations are not allowed. However, you’re young and powerful. If you’re in trouble, come consult me. In Felbane there are some excellent shops..."

Lord Fenberg couldn’t finish his sentence.

"Y-You...?"

His wife gave him an incredibly sharp glare.

Lord Fenberg broke out in a cold sweat!

I decided to pretend I wasn’t paying attention and kept looking at the scenery outside the carriage window.

The carriage passed through the pass without any trouble and reached the vast plain.

"This is a really wide plain."

Lord Fenberg muttered while looking out the window.

He was probably bored with the long journey. But that kind of comment can become a flag, so it’s dangerous.

"It’s terrible! What’s going on!?"

"What is it!?"

"I can’t believe it, but a swarm of Grow Caterpillars mixed with Giant Hornets has burst out from the forest! We must evade immediately or we’ll be crushed!"

"Wh-What!?"

When I looked out the window, a thick cloud of dust was coming straight toward us.

The flag was real. Flags are terrifyingly powerful.

"What should we do? If we don’t take them out, where do you think they’ll go?"

"Umm... probably toward the nearest village..."

"Then we’ll have to take them out or we’ll end up camping."

"It’s not that serious, but..."

I opened the carriage door and stepped out.

. Breeze Search.

I didn’t call Sylphie. I used the wind spirit magic directly.

"I see. There are about 50 caterpillars over 2 meters long and about 100 giant bees. The bees are flying around and the caterpillars have strong charging power. To defeat them, we need fire power that can take out both groups in one wide area."

"H-Hey, Lord Yabe, we know you defeated the Demon King Gulaad, but can you really handle a group this large...?"

I ignored Lord Fenberg’s question and stared at the void.

"That’s quite a lot of monsters. But with your power, it should be easy. Freia, can you lend me your power?"

I called the fire spirit Freia a little formally.

Freia appeared right behind me.

"Yabe... you finally called me..."

She hugged me from behind. This kind of back hug is a privilege of Belhia-neesan.

"Uuu..."

Freia cried from emotion.

"That voice...?"

Irina noticed Freia’s crying and finally realized something. She’s usually so spacing out, but today she’s sharp!

"Let’s go, Freia. This is our first battle."

"Yeah! Leave it to me, Yabe!"

Wiping away her tears, Freia placed her hand on my shoulder happily.

I walked toward the monsters.

"Alright, let’s take them out in one strike. Are you ready, Freia?"

"Of course!"

"Let’s go! . Cross Fire!!"

I spread both arms wide, then crossed them in front of my eyes and slammed them down. A huge flame cross shot toward the enemies!

DOOOOOOOOOOM!

The flame cross directly hit the enemies and exploded, burning everything to ash. Especially the giant bees flying around — they were blown away and completely burned, unable to escape. If it were wind or ice, some bees might have escaped the range, but the explosion blew them away while burning them to the last. It’s a very powerful spirit magic. Not only bees, but giant caterpillars were roasted or blown apart and burned.

"You’re amazing, Freia. It’s a bit too strong, isn’t it?"

"Uhh... did I overdo it? Will you stop calling me...?"

Freia looked up at me with teary eyes.

"It’s fine. I’ll adjust with my magical power. Lend me your power again, Freia."

I stroked her head.

"Uuu... I finally got to help Yabe..."

She hugged me tightly.

"Alright, I’ll call you again soon."

"Whenever you want!"

Freia disappeared. She had such a happy smile. From now on I’ll call all four spirits together and have fun.

...Well, first we have to safely reach the spring and build our my home. If the spirits keep appearing, it’ll cause an immediate incident.

"Anyway, there are no active monsters. Let’s head to the village. We should arrive before it gets dark."

I returned to the carriage.

"I knew it... I knew it... but..."

Lord Fenberg had his head in his hands.

"Yabe, you were amazing."

"Yabe-sama, you were so cool!"

"Yabe-sama, the materials were excellent, right?"

Each of the three girls praised me.

Each had their own personality and it was easy to understand.

Sarina: I don’t need the materials for bees or caterpillars.

I’m not short on money.

Let’s depart.