Dual Cultivation

The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 1 Chapter 20

TL Note:

Schedule Changes:

Alright guys, so I'm taking summer class for extra credits and it's starting this week. So with that, a change in schedule. No chapters on T, W, and TH. Don't get your hopes up but I'll at least try to get a chapter out on Saturdays. With this we're down to 4 chapters a week from 5.

Help with these ones please:

まったくあやつは……儂の作った街をより良くしようとしてくれるのは嬉しいが、ああなると暫く使い物にならんわぃ

Volume 1 Chapter 20

Ryouma had lunch with the four members of the Duke’s household.

At the start they were talking about how Elia fought, but midway through Elia suddenly said this.

“By the way Ryouma-san, what were you thinking about a while ago?’

“A while ago? What do you mean?”

“A while ago you were looking around and saying ‘what a waste’, right?”

When Ryouma heard those words, he stiffened.

“Ah, it’s no–nothing special…”

The words that came out were obviously a lie. Since Ryouma wasn’t using his grandparents as an excuse this time, his excuse was very poor, and everyone was able to figure it out.

Elia was the first to point it out.

“How very suspicious, Ryouma-san.”

“You’re not really good at lying.”

Mentioned Rheinbach-sama at the obvious lie.

“Is it something hard to mention?”

“If you have something to say, it’s ok to say it, you know?”

Inquired Rheinhart-san as the madam tried to support Ryouma.

Realizing that his attempt to fool them had failed, he gave up.

“Do you remember the conversation we had before arriving at the Town of Gimuru? That story about the salt mountain.”

Rheinhart-san, suddenly understanding, said.

“Ah… I see. It’s fine, the ones here are just us, Sebasu, Aro-ne, and Lilian. Aro-ne and Lilian won’t spread rumors, and the other men are eating at a different place.”

“I see. Then you know I can use Alchemy, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

Answered Rheinhart-san as he told Aro-ne and Lilian about Ryouma.

When they heard the word ‘Alchemy’ they were shocked, but did not give any sign of contempt. Ryouma gave a sigh of relief and then began talking.

“This mine will become an abandoned mine, right?" Rheinbach-sama nodded

“That’s right. The papers have already been processed.”

“So what about it?”

“I think I can still produce some iron from this mine if I use Alchemy.”

At those words, this time everyone else aside from Ryouma stiffened.

Rheinbach-sama couldn’t help but ask

“Is that really true?”

“Yes. I once talked about how I managed to remove the poison from the salt in the salt mountain in the Forest of Gana, right?”

“Yes, I’ve heard of it.”

“In the same way I removed the poison from the salt, this time I can gather the soil and produce iron. That red soil is the color of rust. Say, if one were to leave his sword wet, over time it would get rusty, right?”

“Of course.”

“In the same way the soil that has iron content in it will have the same color. That’s why there is definitely iron in that soil. I believe if I use Alchemy’s Separation on that soil once or twice, then I’ll be able to extract a lump of iron. Only thing is, if an abandoned mine were to suddenly start producing iron again, it would cause a fuss, right? So since it’s not possible to get it by digging as you would normally, and since there’s a problem with using Alchemy, I thought, ‘What a waste…’.”

“That’s true but… Ryouma-kun, if you think you can do it, why don’t you try doing it? I actually have a way to sell something like that legally without catching attention.”

“Alright.”

Replied Ryouma cheerfully. After having their meal, the other guards went on their own ways to dispatch the monsters. With them gone, Ryouma and the rest began their operation. Ryouma prepared the magic formation that is essential to Alchemy by drawing a square inside a circle. He then put the reddish soil into a stone container he made using Earth Magic and then placed it on top of the magic formation.

“Then, I’ll start. It’s dangerous, so please do not go inside the magic formation.”

As Ryouma said that he allowed his magic power to flow into the magic formation causing it to illuminate. From inside the shining magic formation, the soil and the stone vessel was being pushed out. When the light had disappeared, all that was left inside the formation was the silver colored sand of iron.

After Ryouma had confirmed that, he quickly drew a pentagram within a circle. He placed the silver colored sand of iron on that and allowed magic to flow into the magic formation.

This is the magic formation when using Alchemy’s ‘Synthesis’. The practitioner needs to know the original material and the material it will synthesize into. From this, the practitioner will be able to make the material on the magic formation synthesize turning it into one lump, making it possible to create an alloy from several metals.

With this, Ryouma turned the iron content he brought out into an iron ingot. Confirming that, he used ‘Identify’. And then this came out:

Iron Ingot

It is an iron ingot with 100% purity.

Having understood that he had succeeded, Ryouma handed the ingot to Rheinhart-san and had him use ‘Identify’ on it.

“You really were able to do it……………………I’m sorry, Ryouma-kun.”

Rheinhart was shocked that Ryouma was actually able to produce iron. While he was dumfounded for a while, he quickly put himself together and bowed his head deeply. At that sudden behavior, Ryouma was at a lost.

“Eh!? Why all of the sudden!? Please raise your head!”

At those words Rheinhart raised his head but he spoke with a face that looked very apologetic.

“Although I didn’t think you’d swindle others, but because there are a lot of people who say they can make gold and swindle others, I thought for sure you wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m sorry for not having been able to trust you.”

When Ryouma finally understood what was bothering Rheinhart, he immediately told him that he doesn’t mind, however, Rheinhart did not look satisfied. Rheinhart kept apologizing, and Ryouma kept forgiving, their conversation kept moving parallel to each other until Elize and Rheinbach finally interfered. When they finished talking, Sebasu spoke up.

“Rheinhart-sama, about this iron…”

“Right! We need to prepare to sell these iron ingots…”

“Unfortunately, we cannot sell these things.”

“What? Why is it no good?”

“This thing is certainly iron and Ryouma-sama’s ability to perform Alchemy is truly awe-inspiring, however, there is just one problem, the purity is too high.”

Having been told that, Rheinhart, Elize, and Rheinbach used ‘Identify’ again. Afterwards, they each breathe out a defeated sigh. Seeing those three’s expressions, Ryouma couldn't help but ask what was wrong.

Apparently in this world, the highest purity that can be sold has 10% impurity. And the inferior ones have greater than 40%. If there happened to be an iron with 0% impurity, meaning a pure iron, there would be a huge commotion over it and there would be many people who would try to find out the manufacturing method.

Receiving that explanation, Ryouma realized what the problem was. At the same time, he thought of a way to fix it.

Ryouma quickly drew a hexagram within a circle, and put on top of it the ingot and the soil he got when he extracted the iron. And then he allowed his magic power to flow into the formation.

The hexagram formation is for using Alchemy’s ‘Mixing’. Using this, one will be able to mix several materials without bias. Because of this, Ryouma was able to lower the purity of the ingot by mixing it with the original material. As a result its color changed to black. When he used identify on it this came out,

Iron Ingot

An iron ingot with 10% impurity

When he gave it to Rheinhart-san, they couldn't help but be shocked. At the same time, though, they showed great joy since with this, it can now be sold.

After that, because Rheinhart and Sebasu-san were figuring out who to sell the iron to, the afternoon monster hunt party ended up becoming Ryouma, Elia, Elize and Rheinbach.

“Good grief, I’m happy that guy is trying to improve the town I made but when he’s like that, he becomes impossible to deal with.”

Grumbled, Rheinbach.

“Really, father…”

The madam looked at Rheinhart and asked

“I’m troubled that you’re neglecting Ryouma and Elia. You don’t think so?”

“I am also a part of the cause… and also isn’t it better that Rheinhart-san is doing his work rather than being lazy.”

Because Ryouma was also the same kind of person who would lose track of everything around him when caught up in his work, it wasn't actually possible for him to scold Rheinhart.

The madam helplessly said、

“Well that’s true… ah, we arrived.”

Ryouma and Elia arrived in front of the entrance to another tunnel.

“Well then, from here on you guys decide on how to move. I and father-in-law will only go along with you guys from here on. We’ll save you when it gets dangerous, but aside from that we won’t do anything at all.”

“Since this is to help Elia gain some experience and since Ryouma-kun already has some experience, Ryouma will also have to step back. If she needs help, at most just talk to her.”

Suddenly having a problem pushed onto you, a normal person would be troubled. Elia, however, was someone who had always received their training. And so this is how she replied,

“I understand, I’ll do my best.”

From the looks of things, it would appear she’s used to suddenly being given a problem.

“It’s dark and I can’t see very well.”

Elia was different compared to Ryouma who had always hunted during the night in the forest.

“Ryouma-san, what do you do when hunting during the night?”

“If you do it for a long time you’ll get used to it but… if it’s ok for us to be seen, then it’s fine to use the light magic, ‘light’ as many times as you want. If you don’t want to be found out then using the neutral magic, ‘Search’ would be best. There’s still a chance of being discovered through the perception of magic but it’s still better than ‘Light’.”

“I can’t use Search. Can Ryouma-san use Search?”

“I can use it.”

“How do I use it? I know the theory, but I don't actually know how to apply it.”

Hearing that, Ryouma thought for a while. Then he created a container made out of stone with earth magic and filled it up with water using water magic.

“Please look at this.”

“What will you do with this?”

Ryouma showed the vessel to Elia, and then dropped a rock in the middle of it causing waves to rise within the small vessel.

“The center of the rock is one’s self. The waves are the flow of magic power. Imagine yourself to be at the center and allow your magic power to become like these waves of water. Then allow it to spread to your surroundings where you think the monster may be.”

Ryouma then, continued to drop small rocks on the vessel while sinking the waves with water magic. After a while, he dropped a rock one more time, but this time the wave could clearly be seen stopping at some point when it hit a rock.

“In a similar sense, this is how a monster could interrupt the wave you are releasing, and is the reaction that you will get when using Search if there is a person or a monster in the area.”

“I get it. That explanation was really easy to understand. Well then, ‘Search’ !”

Elia immediately invocated the magic, ‘Search’. At that instant, magic power flowed into the surroundings with Elia as its center.

“There are a lot of monsters just a little bit ahead of us!”

“Looks like it worked, unfortunately though, you put too much magic power. Using a lot is a waste, and also if there were a magician on their side, we’d be found out.”

“Is that so? Looks like I need to practice.”

“Search goes alongside with the duty of the vanguard, so I’ll do it. It will be better for Elia to focus on magic.”

“I understand. Thank you, Ryouma-san.”

Ryouma nodded and invocated ‘Search’. And as Elia mentioned, there were a lot of monsters ahead.

“If we go this way, the road will get wider and there’s an empty cave ahead. I am getting a lot of response from the ceiling of that place. It looks like there are plenty of monsters filling the ceiling, they’re probably cave bats.”

Rheinbach-san nodded,

“If they’re in the ceiling, then they’re probably cave bats.”

The Madam followed,

“If there’s so much of them that they’re filling up the ceiling then… Elia, will you be alright?”

“They’re small and on top of that they’re fast, so one or two would be good practice, but…”

Said Rheinbach-sama.

“Then in that case, do you mind if I try out an experiment?’

Hearing that, the three couldn't help but ask at the same time,

“Experiment?”

“Yes. If it goes well I may be able to round up the bats.”

Ryouma then explained while he confirmed the bat’s ecology.

At that, he found out that the Cave Bat’s ecology is not that different from the bats of Earth. Knowing that, Ryouma proposed the use of sound. He figured, if they were to use a magic that can create a powerful sound, it should be able to knock the cave bats out.

Actually, while he was living in the forest, Ryouma was able to create several sound magic.

A magic that silences the sound surrounding the target, ‘Silent’. A magic that does the opposite and makes the sound louder, ‘Big Voice’. A magic that allows sound to reach far, ‘Whisper’. While practicing Big Sound, Ryouma was accidently able to produce a sound explosion capable of destroying the ear drums, which he called ‘Stun Sound’ and by combining it with ‘Whisper’ he was able to create a remote non-lethal magic called ‘Sound Bomb.

Sound Bomb is extremely powerful but it has the downside of making a big noise. Using this magic, it was possible to destroy the ear drums of the Black Bear in one shot, causing it to faint. Ryouma figured that if this was used against the bats it would have some effect.

Only, there were currently three problems. The first is whether or not the noise it produces will cause the tunnel to collapse or not, the second is whether there are people around or not and the last one is what will happen if it fails to dispose of the bats.

Ryouma asked Rheinbach about the first question and as it turns out, since the tunnel has been strengthened by earth magic, there’s nothing to worry about regarding the cave collapsing. As for the second problem, it’s possible to figure out if there are any people around by just using ‘Search’ and then in the instance that the ‘Sound Bomb’ fails to dispose of the bats, then Ryouma will deal with it using the slimes.

Ryouma brought out the Sticky Slime from the Dimension Home and using ‘Enlarge’ had it block the tunnel, giving it the order to act as some kind of net. The slime, following that order, used the ‘Sticky Liquid’ to create a net. Ryouma then put up a sound proofing barrier preventing the sound from the outside from going inside.

“ ‘Search’ ……………… Good, there’s no one there. The preparations have been completed.”

Rheinbach nodded

“We're ready as well, you can go anytime you want.”

“Then in that case, ‘Sound Bomb’ “

At that instance, a tremendous sound erupted like an explosion from outside the barrier, echoing within the tunnels.

The cave bats in the ceiling of the tunnel were unable to run and most of them fainted. The ones that were able to run away were only 10, but those cave bats were unable to fly steadily and ended up hitting against the walls. There were also some bats that went over to Ryouma’s side, but they got caught in the net and was unable to move.

“Looks like a success. Let’s go.”

Removing the barrier and the slime’s net, the four headed over to where the bats were. When they got there, a significant number of cave bats could be seeing lying on the floor.

Seeing that, Rheinbach and the Madam couldn't help but praise,

“This is amazing.”

“It's true that cave bats aren’t particularly dangerous, but they’re kind of hard to kill. To think that a child would be able to deal with them so easily, I don't think something like this has happened before."

“Amazing, Ryouma-san!”

“The experiment seemed to have ended well. Ah… these, is it ok if I feed these to my slimes?”

“Well cave bats don’t really sell that well so…”

Hearing that, Ryouma made the sticky slime split and had the 364 sticky slimes eat all of the cave bats. After that, Ryouma felt that the sticky slimes have become able to split again, so he decided to have them split once he got back home to the lodging.

After that, Ryouma and his slime continued to support Elia while she hunted the small rats for the next hour.

Afterwards, the four people left the tunnel. After they had rested, they were planning to go to the next dungeon, but at that moment, Rheinhart came over. And then he said,

“Ryouma-kun, can you make a few more samples of the iron we are going to sell?”

And so, because of that, Ryouma had to separate from the others to make more ingots.

He finished the ingots fairly quickly, but the three had already gone into the tunnel. Being bored, Ryouma thought of entering a tunnel but instead started making the slimes split.

However that also ended in an hour and without anything to do, Ryouma took out the slimes from the Dimension Home and passed the time by training.

Ryouma used Earth Magic to make a rod out of stone and used it along with his fists to hit the slimes. In response, the slimes either dodged that or defended.

Ryouma did something like this from time to time while in the forest to train the slimes. The slimes may be weak monsters but unless one hits the nucleus inside their body or hits the soft semi-liquid body of theirs, they can’t die.

The slime can make the nucleus inside its body go anywhere. So when Ryouma is fighting the slimes, the slimes move the nucleus to the opposite direction to protect it and escape from the attack with its semi-liquid body. In the instance where it is kicked to the ground, the slimes can do the same thing to negate the damage.

Right after taming it wasn’t possible, but after being together for a long time, Ryouma began to see the slimes making skillful movement and so he began the training.

Ryouma focused on teaching the slimes the foundation of battle techniques on dodging and defending. Like going under the bosom of the opponent coming at you to cut you down to dodge, and entwining yourself around the hand holding the sword that has come near you or making use of the semi-liquid body and using the enemy’s weapon to parry.

Moreover, while slimes are normally unable to fight except by ramming their body against their opponents, Ryouma’s slimes are able to extend tentacles and use it like some sort of whip. There are also some that can counter attack with weapons as if they were using their hands. Nowadays there are slimes that can extend their bodies and use spears and pseudo-rod techniques.

Also, while Ryouma was practicing with the slimes, Lilian was watching. Lilian couldn’t’ believe her eyes when she saw the slimes executing movements that slimes normally couldn’t, however, Ryouma didn’t notice this.

After this, Lilian went to Sebasu and asked, “Are Slimes able to use battle techniques?” Because of that Sebasu began to worry about her health. Fortunately though, she was able to solve the misunderstanding when she mentioned that she was talking about Ryouma’s slimes. However, being unable to believe that slimes could use battle techniques, Sebasu said, “Ryouma-sama’s slimes are able to perform skillful movements so maybe that’s what you saw?” Hearing that, Lilian was convinced and she forgot about the slimes.

“Ryouma-san!”

“Elia, you’re done with your training?”

“Yes, the training for today has ended. But more than that, I have a present for Ryouma san.”

“Present?”

“Fufufu… If it’s Ryouma, I wonder if you’ll like it?”

As Elia and Elize said that, Rheinbach came with a box made out of a stone. Looks like it was made with earth magic.

“Inside this is a magical beast, it’s weak but you should still be careful.”

Hearing that it’s a magical beast, Ryouma opened the lid while being cautious. In the next moment, Ryouma was captivated when he saw what was inside.

“Slime?”

What was inside was a dark grey Slime. It was obviously not a normal slime, but it was a kind of slime Ryouma had never seen.

“It’s a high class slime called Metal Slime. We saw it by chance so we caught it.”

“Thank you very much! I’m really happy! To have another slime, and what’s more, a new kind…”

Ryouma gave his thanks to the other three and then began to observe the slime. The three were happy that Ryouma happily received it but when he started observing, they couldn’t help but give a wry smile. At that, Rheinbach reminded Ryouma,

“Even if it’s a slime it's still a magical beast so it’ll be better for you to make a contract with it now.”

As if he head just remembered it when Rheinbach mentioned it, Ryouma enacted the Slave Monster Contract. After that, until it was time to go back, Ryouma made some iron out of the red soil and gave it to the slime, wondering whether or not it would eat it.

The result was that the metal slime did in fact eat the lump of iron but needed time. So instead he used Alchemy to turn the ingot into its previous sand like state and the slime was able to eat it quickly.

Ryouma hypothesized that the slime had most likely eaten the soil with metal content, and as a result it ended up evolving like that.

And so he thought of using the sand-like iron that the metal slime liked to eat as lure. And then made a contract with the lured slime. He continued to feed the slime iron for the sake of ascertaining of whether or not the evolution condition is to feed it metal. If it does evolve, then that will prove that the hypothesis is correct.

After that, he was told that they were about to leave and so Ryouma got permission from Rheinhart to get a huge amount of red soil as feed for the slime, and put it in a corner in his Dimension Home.

He used ‘Create Block’ on the red soil and had the slimes transport it. Like this he was able to secure a huge number of red soil. At this point, Ryouma began to feel that he’s starting to reach the limit of his magic power. A sensation that he hasn't felt in a while.

Ryouma rode the carriage in that condition and was heading for the town but while he was there, Rheinhart told him this,

“I know you’re tired and I’m sorry about this, but can you go with me for a while? I want to go to the place of the person who will work with us to sell the iron, the slime thread, and the water proof cloth that you made. He’s a trustworthy person, so I thought of introducing Ryouma-kun as well.”

Since Ryouma-kun was only a little tired, he felt that there was nothing wrong with going, and he agreed.

After that, 1 hour had passed and they finally reached the town. They then stopped in front of a huge shop.

“Well, well. What a pleasant surprise to have the members of the Duke’s Household come. Welcome.”

When they entered the store, they immediately went deep inside the shop and entered a big room. When they got there, another man entered as well. That man couldn't really be called fat, but he certainly had a stout figure.

When he came, Rheinhart greeted him,

“Serge, it's been a while.”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate that I am unable to get many opportunities to meet with the members of the Duke’s Household like this. But I’m happy to see that you are all doing well.

And as for this young lad here, I believe it’s the first time we’ve met. My name is Serge Morgan. I am the president of the Morgan Firm.”

“I am Ryouma Takebayashi. Because of some twist of fate I’ve come to be in the care of the Jamil Household. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Although Serge was surprised at Ryouma’s manner of speech, he showed a smile. And in response Ryouma also smiled. And although this man's manner of speech was similar to Matthew of the Tamer Guild, Ryouma wasn’t able to feel the sort of ill will he felt from Matthew.

Like this their greetings ended, and they went onto the main topic.