Last time, I had felt satisfied in my revenge by having a corpse hold nitroglycerin, but those guys had only attacked me and met their end; my vengeance for being kidnapped was still unresolved.
Well then, it looked like it was time to settle the score. I pulled out my staff from the item box and had prepared about ten bottles of nitroglycerin just in case. I stood ready for whatever the temple's people were bringing my way, but soon I heard the sound of swords being sheathed.
"What's going on? Did I jump the gun?"
I crouched down, trying not to make a sound, and moved closer to the bushes, where I caught a glimpse of five soldiers walking further ahead.
"Is there something over there?"
As I leaned forward to get a better look, I spotted three high school girls in leather armor standing in front of the soldiers.
"Are they out here training? Oh! There's a boar lying on the ground. Even though they're just high school girls, I see they're part of the Hero party after all. There's no spring or river around, and I don't want to get spotted by them, so I should head back soon."
With that thought, I instantly transported back to my living room.
***
The boar fell victim to a fire arrow from Hana Mikasa. Just then, as Kazuha Tahara, the ranger, was about to scold Hana for her reckless behavior, he sensed an inexplicable presence in the bushes behind the temple soldiers. It wasn't an animal, nor did it carry any hostility. After a moment of having their swords drawn, the soldiers sheathed them, and shortly after, that strange presence vanished altogether.
During this expedition through the southern plains, I stumbled upon the Hero party—three high school girls apparently training outdoors. Knowing it would cause trouble if the temple soldiers caught them in the temple's private grounds, I decided to depart quickly. As a result, I found neither rivers nor springs and couldn't gather any water.
In this wild and remote area, I was able to gather a decent amount of stones for potion bottles—enough to last about six months.
What do those high school girls plan to do, hanging around with such sketchy characters? It's not much trouble for me to send them back to their original world, especially since we're from the same hometown.
I don't know what the temple folks are hoping to achieve with them, but it's clear they intend to use them for their own purposes. If I were to send those girls back to Japan, their plans would be foiled—serves them right! Perhaps I should take some proactive steps.
However, I can't be too reckless since I have no idea what those girls are thinking. While life here might seem restrictive without the comforts of civilization, being flattered as a "Hero" and enjoying a decent standard of living might diminish their desire to return home.
I'll keep them in mind, but that alone seems sufficient.
After two or three days of seeing the high school girls on temple property, the day finally came when the generator was supposed to be delivered to my apartment. Though the delivery was scheduled for the morning, it could arrive anytime after 10 AM. Still, there was a slight chance it could come around 9, so I decided to return to the apartment by 9 to wait for the package.
Sitting alone in the apartment, I was scrolling through the news on my smartphone at the kitchen table when the doorbell rang just after 10 o'clock. At the same time, a voice called from outside, "It's 〇× Transport!"
"Yes!" I replied, quickly opening the door.
Beside the door was a generator, equipped with a set of wheels on the back and a folding handle at the front, resembling a small handcart. The delivery person seemed to have pulled the generator along with that handle. Given its likely weight of around 100 kilos, it must have been quite a struggle to transport it alone.
"Please sign here or put your Hanko," the delivery person said, handing me a pen. I borrowed it and signed my name.
"Excuse me," they said as they pushed the cart away.
With the delivery complete, I made sure no one was watching before I stored the generator in my item box, locked the door, and returned to my estate in the New World.
Since I couldn't operate the engine generator inside the estate, I went around to the back and retrieved it from the item box. The main part of the generator was wrapped in plastic, and from within that plastic, I pulled out a clear bag containing the instruction manual, accompanying cables, and a small can of engine oil. I had completely forgotten about the engine oil, so I returned it to the item box to make a copy. Now, I could produce engine oil whenever I needed it.
I skimmed through the instruction manual, quickly poured the engine oil from the provided can into the generator, and then used a 4-liter gasoline can from the item box to fill the tank. After doing this twice, I realized I could directly transfer gasoline from the item box to the tank, so I filled it to the brim without hesitation.
I followed the steps to start the engine, but just as I was about to pull the wired handle, I paused, realizing something important. Upon reflection, I thought about the generator in front of me—it was primarily made of iron and copper. While it probably contained some rare metals, the amount couldn't be significant. This sparked a thought: I might be able to replicate it. With sufficient amounts of iron and copper, I could minimize fatigue during the copying process.
Now was the ideal time to create a copy while the generator was in pristine condition. Given that the generator weighed around 100 kilograms, I figured a few kilograms would account for the copper, with the majority being iron. I decided I needed to source some iron—scrap cars were the easiest way to go about it. They were like treasure chests filled with various materials centered around iron. However, I doubted whether I could just walk up to a place selling scrap cars and buy one. Besides, I had no idea where to even find such a place.
So, I carefully stored the engine generator in the duplication box and headed back to my apartment to use my smartphone to find a location dealing with scrap cars.
"Transfer!"
Back in my room, I searched on my smartphone and found a dismantling factory about a thirty-minute walk from my apartment. They probably recover usable parts from junked cars and sort the metal from the rest. This was exactly what I was planning to do.
Even if they see me as a bit of a nuisance, it shouldn't be a big deal. I could easily snatch a few cars from a distance under the cover of night without getting caught; however, since I'm not in a desperate situation, I might as well negotiate and buy one.
As I walked toward the dismantling factory, I passed a used car lot. There it was—a sedan priced at 120,000 yen. It didn't look bad, but it had a notice saying it lacked a vehicle inspection. This could work. The only issue is that if I handle it here, I might attract attention.
It might be a bit reckless, but should I just go for it? I know I'm not causing anyone trouble or breaking any laws, so I can just act confidently. You could call it a bold move.
Not being picky about the specific car, I approached the dealer, wanting to confirm just in case, "Excuse me, I'm looking to buy the cheapest car you have, regardless of the model or anything else—do you have any?"
I know it sounds odd, but my needs are purely about the materials, so I simply expressed my honest feelings. The shop owner raised an eyebrow and prompted, "Uh, what do you mean?" I told him plainly about my needs. "I plan to dismantle it myself, so a junk car would be even better."
He replied, "Understood. Since a junk car can't be driven on public roads, it will need to be towed or loaded onto a transport vehicle, and that comes at a cost."
"That's fine. I'll transport it myself."
"Oh, you have a tow truck? Well, I've got a car in today that I can let you have. I'll just add about fifty thousand to the purchase price, how does that sound?"
"And how much would that be in total?"
"It'll be fifty thousand. I originally took it in for free, including the junk fee."
With that, we headed to the back yard to check out the car. It was a sizable wagon; there was definitely enough metal to make it worth my while.
"I'll take this one," I said, handing over fifty thousand yen right then and there. The shop owner started to write a receipt, but I waved it off. "No receipt needed. Alright then."
With a flick of my wrist, I stored the wagon in my item box right in front of the shop owner, accomplishing my goal. I then transferred to the backyard of my estate in New World. I couldn't see the owner's face now, but I imagined he looked shocked, as if he'd just been outsmarted. Still, with fifty thousand yen in hand and one less junk car in the world, he'd probably concoct some convenient story in his mind to rationalize the situation sooner or later.
After acquiring a car, I moved the vehicle from my item box to the material box and decided to copy the engine generator that was stored in the duplication box.
"Duplicate!"
The engine generator copied flawlessly. I felt no fatigue, indicating that most of the materials were covered by the car I had just bought. First, I would test the copy. If the duplicate works, that guarantees the original will function perfectly as well.
Consulting the manual again, I followed the starting procedure and yanked the handle attached to the wire. The engine roared to life with a satisfying sound.
Vroom, vroom...
The engine was running smoothly, and everything seemed fine, except for one major issue: my mansion had no electrical appliances whatsoever. I had assumed that having electricity would mean a modern lifestyle, but without any appliances, it was pointless. My original motivation for generating electricity was to cook rice, and now that my alchemy workshop could easily produce delicious rice without a rice cooker, I found myself in a hurry without any necessities.
Was there anything else I needed for a modern lifestyle?
With no internet, digital TV, or satellite broadcasts, I pondered my options and could only think of a disc player and a display. Even so, it would provide a semblance of civilization, and the children would likely delight in watching animated shows and hearing music, even if they didn't understand the language.
As I pondered near the idling generator, I noticed the children and Lisa had come over, drawn by a peculiar sound from behind the mansion.
"What's that, Master?" Lisa asked.
"It's called a generator. It powers another machine, but I don't have that machine ready yet, so it's not really doing anything," I explained.
"Oh, I see. But it smells good!"
"Yeah, it does. *Inhale, exhale.*"
It seemed the kids were captivated by the smell of gasoline exhaust, taking deep breaths of it. While a little exposure probably wouldn't harm them, those deep breaths didn't bode well.
"Hey, hey! That smell is bad for you, so stop inhaling it!"
""Huh!?""
Everyone was taken aback. Lisa, who had been slow to react, was crouching down, about to bring her nose close to the exhaust pipe.
Since there was no point in leaving the engine running, I followed the manual's instructions and switched it off.