In Part 33, Banquet

Shoving the corpse of a "zombie" into the fresh produce section, now becoming a symbol of sorrow, I take a deep breath.

Now then.

Gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

With a generous amount of food before me, my stomach lets out a mighty, dramatic rumble.

"Yow! I can't take it anymore," (loosely translated).

"I understand. I understand perfectly. Heh heh."

Muttering as if I were indulging in dangerous sweets, I whisper.

"Then, then..."

The supermarket falls into absolute silence.

Un touched, colorful ingredients await.

ALL 100% OFF, all you can eat.

I swallow hard.

My feast begins―――!! (KACHA)

First, I stuff one type of chocolate confection after another into the shopping cart, piling them high.

Next, three large bags of potato chips.

From the snack corner, one bag each of quail eggs smoked, beef jerky, and dried persimmon seeds.

For drinks, something I could never afford as a poor single person—100% fruit juice. Grapefruit juice.

"Fufufu. I'll keep the appetizers at this level."

Muttering to myself, I headed toward the office in the back of the store.

Since the office in this store had no windows, I thought it was the perfect place to turn on a light.

That was the first time I turned on the flashlight I had brought with me.

A colorful array of snacks.

I dumped all the paperwork from the manager's desk onto the floor and began placing my snacks one after another in neat rows.

"Let's eat... Thank you for the meal."

All those mountains of snacks vanished in an instant.

Whoa, I'm like a black hole.

I mean, my stomach should definitely have reached its capacity based on my appearance,

gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle...

My stomach just won't stop growling.

"Still not enough," it seems to be saying (paraphrased).

I thought I might as well fill up completely on sweets like this.

But suddenly, a flash of inspiration—almost like divine grace—strikes me.

"...Hm."

Muttering to myself, I grab a random frying pan, a small pot, and a pot mat to test whether this idea will work.

First, I place the pot mat on the table, then set the frying pan on top of it.

"――《Fire Magic III》"

I recite the incantation.

Immediately, a steady stream of liquid begins flowing from the tips of my index and middle fingers.

Upon closer inspection, it doesn't look much like sweat at all. The liquid seems to be emerging from just a few millimeters away from the fingertip.

Having confirmed that the liquid created by the Fire Magic III had gathered on the frying pan, I muttered,

"——Fire."

I ignited the liquid.

Then,

Boom!

"Aaaah...!"

The intensity of the flame was so overwhelming I couldn't help but gasp. The fire shot up to near the ceiling.

Fire Magic III.

It seems to be a spell that generates flammable liquid.

...Ugh, that's confusing!

Well, so it's categorized under "Fire" even though it involves that kind of thing. Pretty broad, isn't it?

But I'll stop complaining here.

Now that I've actually tried it, I've realized just how handy this Fire Magic III really is.

First, I brought a few heat-resistant items into the office, then carefully dripped a few drops of this Fire Magic III onto them.

After lighting each one with a Fire spell...

"How's that? Brighter now, isn't it?"

In an instant, the office was enveloped in an orange glow.

"Even more..."

I placed a small pot on top of the frying pan I'd lit first and began heating water.

It began to boil almost immediately.

"Yesss!"

It worked even better than expected, and my spirits soared.

Still, what should I call this Fire Magic III?

"Oil Blast"? Hmm...

Since I'm at it, I'd like to keep the spell names consistent with katakana.

That aside.

Pour the boiling water into the instant noodles one by one, and...

Wait for three minutes.

From left to right: soy sauce, miso, pork bone, salt, dan dan noodles.

Of course, we're not just eating the instant noodles.

I brought along any bread that seemed edible, one after another.

Spicy and sweet—forever the combo.

Huh? You say ramen and bread don’t go well together?

A collaboration of carbohydrates?

I don’t know.

Tonight, I’ve turned into a monster.

A monster who does nothing but keep eating.

"Then, let’s dig in—♪"

Happy times have begun.

I’ll tackle the ramen and sweet buns in order, starting with the blandest flavors first.

To avoid overlapping tastes, I’ve chosen a slightly stronger green tea as my drink.

"……puff-haa!"

By the time I finished eating everything, my stomach, which had been growling like a dog in heat, began to settle down.

……hmm.

This is about eight-tenths full?

Eating to the very limit would definitely make the walk home risky.

I’ll save the last treat—the peach can—and drink the leftover tea made with hot water, and call it a day with a hearty “thank you for the meal.”

At that moment, I make a small discovery.

The frying pan, doused with Fire Magic III for cooking.

It had absolutely no burnt residue left behind—nothing at all.

If that were all, I might have just thought, "Wow, this is a really high-quality frying pan." But noticing that even the price tag I'd forgotten to remove hadn't burned away, I realized the unique properties of Fire Magic III.

"Could it be that this somehow adds fire attribute to the target object... or something along those lines?"

I grabbed a random piece of notebook paper and tried using Fire Magic III on it.

Using "Fire," I set it ablaze.

"Indeed..."

It was a rather strange sight.

Even though it was burning fiercely, the paper itself showed no signs of charring or burning away.

Elemental Fire Magic III—apparently, this isn't just some ordinary flammable oil.

This is truly a piece of magic.

Alright.

From today onward, I'll be calling you "Enchant." No doubt about it!

Hehe.

I'm starting to feel more and more like a "Magical Swordsman" (warm and fuzzy inside).