233: Gotta say, studying things that stick with you—hard to find opportunities to learn, huh?

We decided to head toward the coastline and started moving.

Jitarou in front of us lowered his posture slightly.

"See the smoke? Looks like someone's around."

"Enemy?"

I remembered the first time I met Lucas and instinctively tensed up.

Nah. There were plenty of good people in similar situations. Too much caution ain't worth it.

"Looks like a merchant. Got a handcart, too."

"Here? In this backwater?"

Leifan answers for us.

"Area’s got some fairly rare materials. Probably came here to collect them."

"Ah, right. Stuff like fire-tinged crystals scattered around."

"Yeah."

Every now and then you find magic stones with a strong affinity to a particular element. This area’s full of them—picked up a few on the way. Even some flame-reptile stones.

Said they were rare materials, but not exactly hard to come by.

Ah, so that’s why there’s a decent supply floating around.

Keep our guard up, but head over to the two guys grilling fish by the coast.

A small tent. One hand-pushed cart. As we get closer, notice a fishing rod propped up toward the sea. A sunshade tarp’s stretched out, and fish are laid out in the shade.

Way more laid-back than I expected.

We approach and call out.

“Hey, catch anything?”

One of the men looks up. The other’s still too busy with the fish to care. Gonna burn if he doesn’t move soon.

"Kinda meh. They’re catching fish, sure, but it’s all just junk."

"Looks like decent fish, though."

"Same old fish every time? Gets boring."

"Ah, I see."

"Right. Hey, wanna trade some meat or veggies? I’m from the volcanic region. You haven’t been eating much fish, have you?"

Maina leaned forward sharply from the wagon.

"Craft-兄さん, I wanna eat fish!"

"O-oh."

Maina, you’ve got drool on your chin!

She’s been eating like a starved dog since she got better. Looked closer—Persia’s got the same serious face, but her mouth’s all wet too.

Yeah.

We’ve been living on nothing but meat and salted stuff lately. I get it.

"Can I trade some dried meat or pickled veggies?"

"Perfect! How much can you give?"

I pulled out a few small portions from the food stored in the wagon, just for moments like this.

Dried meat’s good for keeping, but it gets boring fast.

Salted vegetables are the classic survival food. Sure, you can preserve fresh veggies, but most methods eat up magic or magic stones—way too expensive for us.

Used to be in Van’s rations, though!

The merchant’s face lit up when I showed him the supplies.

“Dry meat’s well-prepared, and these veggies look fresh! I’ll trade for them! I’ve got three live fish and ten sun-dried ones!”

“Likewise! Since we’re here, why not pitch camp right here?”

No objections. We set up camp right next to each other, friendly as can be.

I’d almost kept the space storage a secret, but figured faking it with tents was more trouble than it was worth. So I just laid out the sleeping wagons without a care.

“Wha—?!”

Yeah, I get it. You’re shocked. What’d you expect?

The fact that space storage itself is rare is one thing—but then this whole wagon bed just pops out of nowhere.

Incidentally, something like this? Even Eva could stash it these days.

I’ve been known since the early days of settlement. No point hiding it. If anything, Eva’s storage capacity should be the one kept secret.

While Leifan sets up the cooking hearth, Ryuuko unfolds a folding chair and table, then starts prepping the ingredients.

Next to the two merchants staring in disbelief, a space that feels just like a café terrace materializes.

Once Leifan finishes the makeshift kitchen area, he begins laying out the ingredients.

“Fish is big, but live fish don’t give much meat. Maybe carpaccio for an appetizer?”

Ryuuko finishes placing the tablecloth and stands beside Leifan.

"Lord Leifan, this fish is white, but the flavor's strong. A little extra lemon juice would help."

Leifan nods slightly, chewing on a small piece. He’s already “assessed” it long ago—no poison, perfectly safe to eat raw. Just a simple taste test, nothing more.

"How about the dried fish? Let's go with mousseline. Ryuuko, can you handle that?"

"Leave it to me."

While preparing the fish, they’re also baking bread at the same time.

"Thanks to the sea breeze, no volcanic ash falling. Haven’t cooked like this in ages!"

Leifan was baking not just the soft bread for today’s meal, but also hard, long-lasting bread for storage.

Food stored through spatial containment doesn’t spoil as easily as normal, but it still goes bad eventually. So unless you’re using ingredients meant for long-term storage, you’ll want to refresh it regularly.

Anyway, cooking time’s also Maina’s study time. Today’s my turn to teach.

Since people are around, theory’s better than hands-on.

“Maina, ask me anything about magic if you’ve got questions.”

“Um… why does food stay good longer when it’s stored in space?”

Oh. She’s thinking along the same lines as me. Probably noticed me pulling stuff in and out.

A question about food magic—just like Maina to ask something like that.

I wonder if I’m qualified to lecture on this. I learned it from Master Javir, after all. I glance at him. He just sighs, shakes his head, and walks over.

...Well, Master’s not exactly great with household stuff, so he was probably just bored.

“Leave the explanation to me.”

I hand over the candle and empty bottle as instructed.

“Listen. First thing to remember: air comes in different kinds. Invisible ‘gases,’ we call them. But those gases mix together. Even if you mix fresh water, sugar water, salt water, and two of those together—looks the same, right? Air’s no different.”

Maina nods along, scribbling furiously. Gotta write it all down—homework from the academy, after all.

“The candle’s lit now. But if you cover it with this jar and wait a bit... the flame goes out.”

Maina blinks, staring hard at the candle inside the bottle.

"Maina-sama, try using the 'Ignite' spell on that candle."

" Hmm."

Just like a proper teacher, you throw in a little hands-on practice.

" 'Ignite'... failed. Again, 'Ignite'... one more time! One more!"

"It's fine! You did it!"

"Huh?"

I grabbed Maina’s wrist before she could try again. No mistake in the incantation. Magic was flowing.

What surprised me was how stubborn she was, pushing to try over and over. Maybe she’s more of a competitive type than I thought.

"Why won’t it light? It’s because the bottle’s run out of 'oxygen'—the stuff fire needs to burn. That’s what we call 'combustion.'"

Maina tilted her head.

Yeah. Just dropped a whole lecture on me out of nowhere. I racked my brain for a simple example, then my eyes landed on Leifan’s huge pile of baking bread.

We eat bread, right? But that bread disappears once we eat it. Digesting it’s the same as burning it. Eventually, it comes out in a different form. Same with oxygen—it turns into another kind of gas.

I gave a smug explanation, but Javir and Leifan just stared at me with dead eyes.

"Could you maybe try a different explanation?"

"Craft. You’re about to eat, aren’t you? Where’d you leave your manners, huh? Hmm?"

"O-oh. Sorry..."

I thought that was clear. Maina seemed to get it, so it’s fine, right?

Wait.

When did those two merchants sneak up behind us and start listening?

It’s a lecture, so it’s only natural they’d be curious. They’re not interfering, so I’ll just leave them be.

"Anyway. Do you understand that air has different kinds, and that there’s something called oxygen?"

"Uh huh."

"Very well. Incidentally, if you embed an oxygen-generation spell into a magical formula, it’ll ignite like this—just for a moment."

The teacher snapped his fingers. A flicker of flame sparked on the candle inside the jar.

Probably meant to go *pfft*, but whatever.

He flushed slightly, then continued as if nothing had happened.

"Incidentally, high-intensity fire magic spells already include this oxygen-generation formula from the start, but few actually understand how they work. Craft. You’ve properly grasped the formula and built it yourself, haven’t you?"

"Y-Yes, of course!"

Don’t drag me into this with a sudden question!

Pop quizzes are brutal!

"Just a side note. Anyway, you understand that fire needs 'oxygen' to burn, right? But actually, people and plants can't live without this 'oxygen' either."

Maina paused, thinking.

"Wait—humans burn oxygen too?"

"Ah! Brilliant insight! Exactly right—both people and plants 'burn' oxygen to stay alive!"

She blushed hard from the praise, then turned to me with a smug grin.

"Anyway, back to the main topic—why food stored in the spatial vault doesn't spoil. It's because there's almost no 'oxygen' inside the pocket dimension."

"Spatial storage... no air at all?"

The teacher smiled softly, genuinely impressed.

"Air that’s completely empty—that’s called a vacuum. But that’s something for another lecture. Explaining atmospheric pressure’s tricky without specialized equipment. Just remember, it’s filled with gases other than oxygen."

"Hm."

The spatial storage spell was built from the start to have a kind of amorphous, mana-based nothingness—(……) a gas of no particular kind—filling the pocket dimension.

At first, I didn’t understand what the spell even meant. I just used it. Now, thanks to what the teacher taught me, I get it.

"Not completely oxygen-free, so things don’t last forever. But way slower than outside. That’s why living animals die in there too. Some idiots claim time stops inside spatial storage. That’s nonsense. Don’t believe that."

"Hm."

Maina had gone to work on her report, so we backed off to leave her in peace. The instructor looked tired, shifting to the table and taking a drink from Ryuko.

The two merchants were muttering quietly, serious faces. “Clear lecture,” one said. “High comprehension.” “Beautiful spellwork.” “Would’ve been perfect if you could’ve snapped your fingers.”

Fine, I’ll let it slide since they’re praising the instructor. But if anyone mentions finger-snapping again, I’m tossing them out.

Midway, Maina lifted her head for just a second, eyes flicking toward the two merchants with a look of mild surprise. Then she dropped back into her report. I kept quiet.