The room I got was unexpected. You wouldn’t guess a servant would get something like this. It was smaller than the rooms upstairs, the furniture was less fancy, but it had everything one would need.

The rest of the day passed out in a blur. I set aside half of everything I cooked so far and have been using the rest, mainly the candy.

I’ve been fiddling with my magic and got some solid results, albeit a little disappointing. It turns out the mana regeneration candy/potions have a limit, about five times my manapool, which means I can’t use it indefinitely.

It starts out with a small headache, and the more I use the worse it gets. When I hit the five times threshold, I had an unbearable full-blown migraine, I could probably squeeze another one in, but I’d pass out cold.

Now for the actual magic, I can bend the earth to my will.

Well, sort of.

 I can manipulate the earth however I want, but it’s not efficient in the slightest. For example, I can raise a stone wall or sink someone into the ground; however that would knock me out, I’d have to use almost all of my manapools combined. 

Fortunately, there was one thing that turned out right, the trick I used a couple of weeks earlier on the test, I got it working somewhat consistently.

I established the link the same way as before, this time; however, I ended it almost immediately, so I get most of the info with the least amount of mana exerted.

Also, depending on the radius, I can keep it up for a pretty long time, and hopefully, at some point, I can keep it up running indefinitely.

I headed outside to grab something to eat. Thankfully, the Innkeeper was the only one in the kitchen. It gets tiring dealing with that much drama.

She had already finished making dinner, and I got a bowl of some sort of stew. It was a simple vegetable stew with some meat inside. Even though I couldn’t recognize either, it was delicious nonetheless.

A productive day, a full belly, and a new bed. I couldn’t help but break into a contented smile. Thanking Hana for the meal, I went back to my room and surrendered myself to sleep.

Bliss, really I couldn’t describe how relaxed I felt. I was happy with simply spending the day in bed, but my stomach voiced its disagreement.

Getting up, I felt my whole body still aching. I need to do a few exercises to get my body in a more acceptable shape.

It’s a blessing in disguise that I can’t adventure just yet. I don’t think I can keep up with how tired I feel right now.

I wasn’t sure what time it was, but the sun was up, and it felt like an appropriate time for breakfast. Heading to the kitchen, I found everyone sitting down and eating; even Val was here.

Noticing my approach, all their eyes turned to me.

Answering their attention with a simple ‘Good morning’, I got three distinct reactions; Hana returned my greeting and beckoned me over, Luna glued her eyes to her plate, and Val shot me a glance and continued on eating.

A sigh escaped my lip. I could practically smell the awkwardness in the room. I sat down as Hana got me a plate. A few minutes of silence go by, and Val finishes up and leaves.

“Don’t worry about it. She's moody since she didn’t get to try any of the sweets you made.“ Hana explained with a sly smile as she looked at Luna.

Judging by the pink glow on her cheeks and how low her head is hung, she probably finished it all yesterday, and Val is pouting.

Sighing again, I offered. “Well, if you’re not busy today, we can make some more.”

“Sure.” Hana shortly replied with a playful smile still staring at the nervous girl.

I gathered all the ingredients required and stated. “I’m no expert. The recipe I’m using is heavily improvised, so if you feel like adding or changing something, feel free to do so.”

And luckily she did. I plan on selling the mana-imbued ones and keeping in mind what Val said about the alchemist’s guild; I don’t want anyone tracking me down.

I recited the entire process, which amounted to dumping all of the ingredients in a pot and stirring it over a fire until everything mixes.

I’m not sure if I offended her somehow, but as I got the pot and was about to start, she snorted and shooed me off the stove. She asked for the measurements I used, and once she got them, she did her own thing.

It turned out that my worries were unfounded, as the end result didn’t have much resemblance to mine; the color was much darker than mine, and the taste wasn’t an issue since the charcoal overpowers most of the flavor.

It didn’t take long for the kitchen to be filled with contented sounds, and a little while later, it exploded into chatter. Hana was chatting with Luna about how well it would fit with this and that; it was all gibberish to me, though.

I could slip away right now, and they wouldn’t notice. I haven’t done much of anything, at least cooking-wise. I’ve been running my rudimentary motion detector, and it required my complete focus. Turns out tracking varying weights in real-time was much harder than I thought.

An intriguing idea crossed my mind; I thought about how well this would work if I used it while moving, and I regretted it almost immediately.

Bent over with my hands on my knees, I had to muster a lot of willpower not to empty my stomach right then and there. After about a minute or two of dizziness and a few deep breaths, I could finally stand back up.

Hana handed me a glass of water which I gladly accepted.

“Thank you.”

“You should go rest. We’ll finish up here.” Hana said while eyeing me with a strange expression.

“I’m fine. No need to worry.”

“We’re almost done here anyway. Come on, I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

A sigh escaped my lips, another misunderstanding. Oh well, I might as well. I’m not doing anything here anyway.

Back in my room, I was sitting down staring at the wall. There wasn’t that much to do and I had nothing to pass the time. I also didn’t want to go outside yet.

I don’t know much about other races, but if the humans here are anything like the ones I know, Luna’s case won’t be a one-time thing, and I’m not particularly fond of getting stabbed.

Getting tired of the constant boredom, I opened up the shop and searched for anything interesting, mainly weapons and armor. A large variety of fantasy-like items were being sold, but I had a particular weapon in mind. The simple tool that if even a nine year old used would still be just as deadly.

A gun.

Focusing my thoughts toward that mysterious shop, I voiced my request.

[ Query successful. 2 results found. ]

 

So… first things first; guns exist here; however, they’re extraordinarily rare, and since they’re being sold as ornaments, they’re probably useless.

With that out of the way, I can focus on the biggest revelation I’ve seen so far. Heroes exist and considering that every cliché has been present so far, it’s safe to assume that the whole demon lord trope is here.

Now hypothetically speaking, if I’m right, am I a hero? I certainly don’t feel like one. Was I summoned here to stop a villain who’s hell-bent on destroying the world? And would I actually do it? Probably not.

I mean, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I’m literally a slave, and not a week earlier; a butler tossed me around.

I continued searching for any strong firepower I could think of; grenades didn’t exist here, but I got some results for alchemical concoctions and some books on fire magic.

An hour had passed by, and I was back to doing nothing. I walked around the room and picked up anything I could find. Engraving was my last escape, and I had a few ideas to try out.

Mana is a form of energy, and theoretically speaking, I should be able to see it somehow. Following this train of thought, if I treat mana the same as thermal energy, I should be able to make something similar to thermal goggles.

I started off with a piece of glass and a nail, and one broken mirror later, I was onto something. I am not sure how much time has passed nor how many attempts it took me, but I was surrounded by broken glass. I had to add a ton of conditions, from the general color of the mana itself to the varying degrees of its intensity.

There was one major difference now, though; I had to write them in English. Engraving requires the person using the engraved-piece to understand what’s written on it, and I am not going to make up my own language just to engrave a couple of items.

Activating the glass shard and looking at myself, I can clearly see the very faint ambient mana, as well as the swirling ball of mana residing in my abdomen.

My last task for the day was checking up on Val. Opening the door, she was the happiest I’ve seen her so far and entering the room, I figured out why; The table had a couple of empty plates and a jar full of shiny marbles.

Sitting down, I asked. “How did it go?”

“I’ll be done tomorrow.” She replies dismissingly, contradicting the grin forming on her face.

“That’s good to hear.”

Silence engulfs the room before I tackle the main reason I’m here. “So… did you remember to check the prices?”

“Hmm?”

“The mana potions?”

“Oh… Yeah, it’s fifty points.” She pauses for a second and tilts her head slightly.

“Is your shop really broken? I’ve never heard of anyone who couldn’t see the prices.”

“Yes, it is, but I should be able to fix it soon.” Changing the subject, I continued. “Did you check how much they’re sold for at the guild?”

“Nope.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“I forgot.” She replies with a yawn.

“I see.” Getting up. “I’ll get going then.”

I got something to eat and headed to my room. I sat down next to the potions and candy and held a piece of candy as I offered it up; a few seconds later, I felt a small portion of my mana dissipated and the candy in my hand vanishing. I repeated the process for every item I had, and half an hour later, I was done.

The shop stored everything somehow and waited for me to set a price for each item to start selling it.

I started with thirty points for the smallest measurement and increased it to an increment of ten for each consecutive tier. Once I entered the prices, the shop created a description of my items. I could add more to it; however, I couldn’t remove whatever is written by the omniscient system.

Every item I placed had a description that basically said ‘this product recovers mana.’ except for the smallest tier; its description was something along the lines of ‘food with small traces of mana.’

Ignoring the indirect insult, I let out a smile. With all my merchandise up for sale, I sprawled out on the bed and closed my eyes.