Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools Volume 5 (eBook)

Hisaya Amagishi (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
250 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8106-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Dahlia learns more about magical toolmaking under the tutelage of Oswald, all while developing a slime farm with head researcher Idaea. She also begins making new connections as a result of her encounter with Volf's brother Guido and his attendant. Meanwhile, her recent inventions of zephyricloth and soap bottles are taking the world by storm! With her fanciful imagination, can Dahlia finally find company among Ordine's elite? Find out in the fifth installment of Dahlia's artisanal adventures!

Textauszug

“That’s the handiwork of advanced mages from the Mages’ Corps; I saw them practicing in the castle the other day,” Volf whispered.

It was hard to believe that that great dragon had been painted with fire magic. Dahlia reasoned it must have been a lot prettier seen from the castle or from the Central District; here at the tower in the West District, the image appeared a little askew. The dragon in the sky was nevertheless awesome, and cheers roared out around the neighborhood.

When the red dragon dissipated, a moment of silence fell upon the party. The four of them sat upright as they waited intently. After a longer pause, a ball of white light rose into the sky higher and higher still—enough to have made Dahlia wonder if it would ever stop. It lit up their world in a pure white like a fireball from a meteor. As another wave of cheering erupted, Dahlia squinted and shielded her eyes; it became hard to tell the nighttime from the day.

The one capable of creating what seemed to be another sun was none other than the king of Ordine, who commanded the most magical power of any of his royal line. It was most likely a display of fire magic as well, and Dahlia had to wonder what temperature that white-hot fireball must be. The king’s immense power could easily be mistaken for the stuff of tales and legends, and it was a source of awe for his subjects. Conversely, it was a source of dread for the kingdom’s neighbor. Powerful mages numbered more in Ordine than anywhere else as well. It was easy to understand the guarded stance of the neighboring kingdom, although Ordine had never once attacked or invaded a foreign power in its history. As an aside, legends had it that the founder of the kingdom had leveled mountains and monsters to establish the capital city—something that sounded entirely plausible to Dahlia, having seen the man-made miniature sun. Perhaps their power was in their blue blood.

“Every year, I’m reminded of the fact that it really is a sun,” commented Marcella.

“Our king sure is something else!” his wife replied.

Dahlia nodded along as she lit a magical lantern. That ball of white light was bright enough to hurt one’s eyes, and after it was extinguished, the darkness seemed even more profound than before.

She had never met the king, but he was said to have blond hair that shone like the sun and eyes that were dark as night. Other than that, she had no clue as to how he looked. The king’s reign had met with overwhelming public approval, and his subjects would hang portraits of their ruler in their homes. His hair and eye color and handsomeness remained constant, but there was much artistic liberty taken otherwise—the work of cunning merchants, Dahlia reckoned.

“A toast! To the Kingdom of Ordine!”

“Cheers!”

It was finally time for the main event: gorging themselves on food and drink. There were dark ales, wheat beers, and crespelle purchased from a food stall—crespelle being slightly thicker crepes, filled with various ingredients and sauces, and wrapped up into a brick. They were readily available at many stalls; Dahlia and Volf had gone out together for crespelle before. There were three flavors today: minced pork and veggies, ham and cheese, and seafood. This year they were filled to bursting and very substantial.

“Let me start reheating these too.” Dahlia began grilling spiedini. On skewers were chicken thigh and breast, obviously, but also heart, gizzard, cartilage, and skin—the last of these being Marcella’s favorite. The accompaniments were just as important, and she had prepared two: one a condiment of salt, garlic, and scallions and the other a reduction of fish sauce, rice wine, and honey to be used as a glaze.

All the fats and sauces meant lots of smoke. It’d make for a terrific scent outdoors but a terrible odor indoors. With the compact magical stove, though, she could grill whether she was up on the rooftop or out in the yard without having to worry about any lingering smells. Even if she was the one who invented it, she relished how handy it was in a situation like this.

“Those almost done yet, Dahlia? Maybe I could lend you a hand with somethin’?”

“Marcella, dear, why don’t you just sit back and relax?” Then Irma effectively repeated his words. “But is there anything we can help with?”

Dahlia giggled at the married couple’s exchange. “Don’t worry, it won’t be long; sit and chat with each other.”

Volf turned his attention to the grill too. “Is that cartilage there, Dahlia?”

“That’s right. Is it a favorite of yours?” She would have never guessed that a noble like him would have a taste for offal, but perhaps it was something served at his local haunt.

“My favorite’s still gotta be chicken thigh, but I really enjoy the crunch of cartilage. I had it with Marcella the last time we went out together.”

“We hopped from stall to stall before landing at a dive bar,” Marcella added.

“Yeah, I felt like I had every single bottle of liquor under the sun that night.”

“Were they any good?” she asked.

Volf furrowed his brows and stared off into the distance. “Sure, but some were just strange. It was kinda hard to put my finger on exactly what flavor they were...” What could it possibly be? Was it something that was too lowbrow for his noble palate or was it something truly exotic?

For the answer, Dahlia looked to Marcella, who replied, “Boy probably had jungle juice. Never know what you’re gonna get!” That would certainly make for a chance encounter—and one she could stand to avoid.

“There was a sealed bottle too, that dark-gray zinger of a drink—what’s it called again?”

“Boozer’s Bane—that shit ain’t for sippin’; it’s only to get you absolutely trashed,” Marcella answered.

“The first thing Marcella did when he got home was to ask me for medicine, and he’s someone that never gets hungover.”

It sounded like quite the peculiar drink, one that Dahlia could stand to avoid as well, but she was glad that the two guys had been able to go on a bit of a bender downtown. Maybe she would’ve had the chance to drink with them like that were she a man; their easygoing smiles brought her a slight pang of envy. Dahlia took a swig of her wheat beer as she flipped the skewers.

The conversation turned back to the topic of fireworks. “Are those all launched by mages? Do you guys have a lot of fire mages at the castle?” asked Marcella.

“I’d say so, yeah. We’ve got advanced mages who can combine magic as well as knights who wield magic.”

“Still, the most powerful of them all must be the king, right? What grade is his magic, I wonder?” said Irma.

“When I was in school, the highest anyone had was seventeen. The king must be at least twenty, but that’s just my speculation,” Dahlia said.

In high school, people generally aimed to become mages if they had over grade nine magic or advanced mages with thirteen. The minimum to enroll in school for magical toolmaking was four, leading to the idea that the profession was for people who couldn’t make it as mages. However, having more magic did not necessarily make someone a better toolmaker. After having recently gone up one grade, Dahlia found it harder to control her magic than before; affixing kraken tape had become a trickier task. Kraken tape was used for packaging and required very little magic to activate. In fact, using too much magic would cause it to melt and cling to the user’s fingers.

“I bet the king couldn’t handle kraken tape...” Dahlia muttered.

Volf and Marcella laughed along with her, while Irma was recovering from choking on her drink. “What’s that about kraken tape all of a sudden? I pray that you don’t still have slimes living here.”

“Not right now, I don’t.” Dahlia’s straight answer elicited a death glare from Irma, who could not deal with slimes. She nearly blacked out when she saw slimes hanging up to dry in and around the tower, even though they were docile creatures with attractive, translucent bodies of jelly that moved quite slowly. “Anyway, having magic isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything. There are people who have magic but don’t use it.”

“Besides, having that much magic would put me at a loss for what to do with it.”

“Making magic crystals? Or perhaps emergency lighting during a disaster?”

“Just make sure you don’t disrespect the king like that in front of others.”

While they shot the breeze, the spiedini became ready. They all grabbed the skewers they wanted and began digging in as they watched the nightscape. Dahlia’s first pick was thigh with the sweet sauce—the sugars gave the meat a great char. It wasn’t the most polite way to eat it, but she bit into the top piece and tore it off of her skewer. The chicken was juicy and smoky and absolutely delicious. As she silently tooted her own horn on a job well done, she watched Volf, with his eyes shut tight, savor a bite topped with the salt and alliums. The cartilage and gizzard skewers were done as well, and she gently placed them on his plate so as not to take him out of the moment.

“Nothing beats Dahlia’s spiedini with the salt spread paired with a dark ale!” Marcella voiced his pleasure as he devoured a skewer of grilled chicken skin and a mug of beer, and his praises tickled Dahlia.

“What are you talking about,...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.11.2022
• Reihe/Serie: Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools
• Reihe/Serie: Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools
• Illustrationen: Hisaya Amagishi
• Übersetzer: Hisaya Amagishi
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: female protagonist • Isekai • Light Novel • Reincarnation
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8106-9 / 1718381069
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8106-3 / 9781718381063