“Later, after filling in all the magic circles, I should add the original tattoos of this body in the gaps. Of course, I can’t add color.”
She envisioned the placement of the magic circles and the tattoos to fill the gaps, which would look beautiful. Gazing at her pale, naked reflection in the mirror, Sylvia smiled contentedly.
“When I thought I died absurdly, I felt so lost, but now, looking like this, I find it cute and the body is great, isn’t it? Haha, I like it. The skin is so fair, the tattoos really stand out.”
The magic circles on her pale skin added an air of mystery.
“Now, shall we test the subspace magic?”
She formed a barrier over the newly inked tattoo with wind magic, like wrapping it with a protective film.
While tattooing, Sylvia knew that white fluid, rich in white blood cells, would surface on the newly created wounds. White blood cells not only aid in healing but also help in maintaining the vividness of the tattoo’s colors.
After dressing, Sylvia entered the living room where numerous wooden boxes were scattered around. The work from the garden had been moved indoors as evening approached.
“Eryngium, take a break now.”
As she spoke, Sylvia used wind magic to bring over a tray with watermelon and small rice balls prepared in the kitchen. Eryngium greeted the tray floating towards her excitedly.
[Hehe, then I’ll eat this and continue.]
“Right, there’s no rush. Go ahead, eat up.”
The fairy grabbed a rice ball placed on a leaf and bit into it eagerly.
[Mmm! Everything Sylvia makes is delicious!]
Watching the fairy seated at the table, Sylvia sat down on a nearby chair, gently stroking Eryngium’s lavender-colored hair and taking out gemstones from the subspace bag.
Seeing the black diamond ring given by Felix gave Sylvia an idea.
Initially, she thought only gems could be inscribed with magic circles, but it was also possible on the body. Moreover, the black diamond ring had no inscribed magic circles, yet it could match and implement any magic circle.
If so, could the raw gemstones not be inscribed but rather attached to objects as conduits for magic? This was her hypothesis.
To test this, she poured a substantial amount of magic into the newly inscribed subspace magic circle. She cut the raw gemstones into squares and attached them to a cypress wood box, then activated the subspace magic.
The cypress wooden box, roughly the size of a 32-inch travel bag, successfully contained the subspace magic. Due to its size or the amount of magic infused, the expansion of space inside the box was significantly larger compared to the small subspace bags she had used before.
“Wow.”
Surprised at the ease of success, an exclamation of awe escaped Sylvia’s lips.
“Is it always this easy?”
She couldn’t help but wonder.
Magic, it seemed, wasn’t inherently easy.
Eryngium, munching on rice balls beside her, shook her head and replied.
[No way! It’s because you have the power of Aethernum-nim. And that ring… the one Felix gave you, it’s an object that has condensed the power of the Black Dragon.]
Sylvia, unaware of these details, widened her eyes in surprise at the fairy’s explanation.
“Wow, wow.”
She had thought the protagonist, a bit arrogant, had given her something less significant, as the ring had no inscribed magic circles and was given away so easily.
“Turns out, he’s more principled than I thought. Or, did he like my fruits that much?”
A giggle escaped her lips. Even if he liked the fruits, trusting her with such a valuable item seemed too generous.
After making one, the subsequent boxes were created smoothly. She continued making cypress wooden boxes with lids that opened like travel bags.
After embedding the gemstones and expanding the space with subspace magic, she also applied storage magic. Five cypress boxes glowed faintly, neatly arranged in the living room.
Eryngium, having finished the rice balls and watermelon, fluttered and perched on Sylvia’s head.
[But how are you going to carry those around?]
To the fairy’s question, Sylvia replied confidently.
“Watch this.”
She took out a custom-ordered leather backpack from her subspace bag. The leather bag was embedded with real gems, a turquoise aquamarine sparkling brilliantly.
Sylvia injected more magic into the subspace magic circle than before and cast the magic on the backpack.
While smaller than the cypress boxes, the subspace magic infused into it was much larger. The difference between using raw gemstones and actual gems was stark.
Satisfied that it could hold as much as she wanted, Sylvia let out a deep and heavy sigh. She had rarely been this tired from using magic, but today was undoubtedly the most exhausting.
As Sylvia nearly collapsed, Eryngium tugged at her hair, speaking with a worried tone.
[Go inside! Lie down.]
Heeding the fairy’s words, Sylvia struggled to her feet and shuffled slowly. She entered a small room on the first floor and flopped onto a netted wooden bed.
“Erin, I’m going to sleep…”
Unable to finish her sentence, Sylvia fell asleep immediately. Eryngium, after confirming her steady breathing, let out a small sigh of relief.
The fairy then lay down beside her, closing her lavender eyes. The gentle sound of Sylvia’s breathing was incredibly soothing.
★★20. Selling Lunch Boxes★★
Sylvia was humming cheerfully as she prepared lunch boxes. She had decided to start with two simple menu items: a carrot, red onion, red and yellow bell pepper, and avocado rice ball, and the other was an egg sandwich.
First, she boiled a large egg in water with vinegar and salt. In mid-air, water and fire elements mingled, illuminating the space where the egg rolled around.
Next, she finely chopped the vegetables and mashed the soft avocado with mayonnaise.
With a generous amount of vegetables and avocado mayonnaise in a bowl, she took out the bread she had bought. She had already removed the crusts and stored them separately.
She heated a pan with oil, using wind and fire magic to raise the temperature, and cut the bread crusts into small pieces. After lightly toasting them with fire magic, she added sugar and water she had prepared earlier. Then, she mixed them with caramel syrup made from butter and milk.
Popping one in her mouth, Sylvia tapped her feet joyfully.
“Yum! Delicious.”
Her hard work growing sugarcane had paid off. She had been consistently producing sugar. The process involved boiling down the scant juice from sugarcane to create a sticky, caramel-like sugar, which she then dried with wind magic to produce granulated sugar.
The yield was meager compared to the amount of sugarcane, so she had to repeat the process frequently. The sugar, closer to brown sugar than white, was less sweet.
However, it had a unique quality that made it stick pleasantly in the mouth. Eryngium often collapsed from exhaustion during this process. As Sylvia popped another caramel bread popcorn into her mouth, Eryngium flew in.
[Give me some too!]
It seemed the fairy had been drawn by the sweet scent while working in the living room. Sylvia cooled a piece of bread popcorn with her breath and handed it to the tiny hands of the fairy.
[Ah.]
Eryngium opened her mouth wide and bit into the caramel bread popcorn.
[Wow!]
She cheered with her wings fluttering energetically.
“Delicious, isn’t it?”
Instead of replying, the fairy vigorously nodded while Sylvia lifted the boiled eggs from the bubbling water. She then created ice water with ice magic and cooled the hot eggs, which made a hissing sound due to their large size.
After peeling the eggs, she separated the yolks and whites, mashing the yolks and mixing them with mayonnaise. Since the eggs were quite large, the amount of homemade mayonnaise she had prepared was ample.
Making mayonnaise was easy with just oil, egg yolks, and lemon juice, so she often made it. She seasoned the yolk and mayonnaise mixture with sugar, salt, and pepper.
She finely chopped the egg whites with wind magic and mixed them with the seasoned yolks. Generously spreading the mixture on the crustless bread, she covered it with another slice and cut it in half using wind magic.
Sylvia began to neatly stack the egg sandwiches in small square containers.
[That looks delicious.]
Eryngium approached, secretly eating more caramel bread popcorn. Crumbs were all around her mouth.
“I’ll make some for you too, don’t worry.”
[Hehe, I love Sylvia!]
The fairy, perched on her turquoise head, expressed her joy with fluttering wings. Sylvia quickly finished making the egg sandwiches and opened the lid of the rice cooker that had been steaming.
Woosh.
Steam billowed out from the large pot. She stirred the rice evenly with wind magic, then floated it in the air and cooled it with a gentle breeze.
She mixed the prepared chopped vegetables with the rice, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and finished with a drizzle of olive oil instead of sesame oil. The freshly pressed olive oil was very fresh and tasty, with the scent of olives and chopped paprika adding a refreshing and rich flavor.
Using wind magic instead of her hands, she formed the rice into round shapes and filled them with avocado mayonnaise. She neatly packed them into containers of the same size as those used for the egg sandwiches.
She then beautifully arranged cherry tomatoes and long-sliced cucumbers in each box. After making about 200, Sylvia placed all the lunch boxes into her newly made subspace backpack. She also prepared an adequate amount of barley and corn tea to match the quantity of lunch boxes.
“There’s still plenty of space left even with all these inside. I wonder how much it can hold?”
With a sense of pride and excitement, Sylvia exclaimed energetically.
“Eryngium, let’s go sell our lunch boxes!”
[What about these, Sylvia? Aren’t you taking them?]
Seemingly fond of the taste, Eryngium gestured towards the stack of caramel bread popcorn while munching on another piece.
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Sylvia quickly packed the caramel bread popcorn into a large lunch box and grabbed some prepared paper bags.
“Now, let’s really go!”
[Yes!]
With confident steps, Sylvia opened the door. The morning sun bathed the day in warm light, the air fresh and cool. It was the beginning of summer following the end of winter, and the streets bustled with people.
Mercenary groups were busily moving towards their next assignments, while food and other stores that had been closed during the winter were now busy sweeping their front yards.
Casually shouldering her backpack, Sylvia headed towards the city gates. Caprasinus City had three main gates. Although the first to third gates were always crowded, mercenaries mostly used the second or third gates, which led to the monster-infested Chebusalatus Mountains.
“Where should I go… Usually, I go to the nearby third gate, but maybe I should try the second gate this time?”
After a moment of contemplation, Sylvia resumed her walk. She moved quickly, with wide strides, speaking to Eryngium.
“Starting a new business in a new place sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s walk a bit more, Eryngium.”
With a cheerful smile, Sylvia hopped once.
[Are we going to the second gate? Haven’t been there much, have we?]
“This time, we’ll make it our new path.”
Chatting with the fairy, Sylvia passed the third gate and headed towards the second. The once snow-filled streets were now melting rapidly under the intense sunlight, flowing into the drains.
As she walked, enjoying the bubbling sound of the melting snow and observing the bustling crowd, the second gate, as tall as ten times the height of an average person, came into view, teeming with people just like the third gate. The massive iron gate stood imposingly, revealing its grandeur.
The high areas of the iron gate, untouched by human hands, showed a reddish hue due to rust, while the lower areas had a small door for easy passage.
Most people entering through this small door were either armored or robed. Sylvia set down her backpack, carefully choosing a spot to observe the passersby.
Clank, clank.
The sound of armor clashing drew Sylvia’s attention, and she called out impulsively.
“Hey, handsome mercenary over there!”
Her clear and refreshing voice filled the air, causing mercenaries of various hair colors to turn their heads. Although she didn’t show it, Sylvia internally cheered ‘Yes!’ and gestured lightly, almost like a butterfly.
“Handsome mercenary, do you need a lunchbox?”
“Later, after filling in all the magic circles, I should add the original tattoos of this body in the gaps. Of course, I can’t add color.”
She envisioned the placement of the magic circles and the tattoos to fill the gaps, which would look beautiful. Gazing at her pale, naked reflection in the mirror, Sylvia smiled contentedly.
“When I thought I died absurdly, I felt so lost, but now, looking like this, I find it cute and the body is great, isn’t it? Haha, I like it. The skin is so fair, the tattoos really stand out.”
The magic circles on her pale skin added an air of mystery.
“Now, shall we test the subspace magic?”
She formed a barrier over the newly inked tattoo with wind magic, like wrapping it with a protective film.
While tattooing, Sylvia knew that white fluid, rich in white blood cells, would surface on the newly created wounds. White blood cells not only aid in healing but also help in maintaining the vividness of the tattoo’s colors.
After dressing, Sylvia entered the living room where numerous wooden boxes were scattered around. The work from the garden had been moved indoors as evening approached.
“Eryngium, take a break now.”
As she spoke, Sylvia used wind magic to bring over a tray with watermelon and small rice balls prepared in the kitchen. Eryngium greeted the tray floating towards her excitedly.
[Hehe, then I’ll eat this and continue.]
“Right, there’s no rush. Go ahead, eat up.”
The fairy grabbed a rice ball placed on a leaf and bit into it eagerly.
[Mmm! Everything Sylvia makes is delicious!]
Watching the fairy seated at the table, Sylvia sat down on a nearby chair, gently stroking Eryngium’s lavender-colored hair and taking out gemstones from the subspace bag.
Seeing the black diamond ring given by Felix gave Sylvia an idea.
Initially, she thought only gems could be inscribed with magic circles, but it was also possible on the body. Moreover, the black diamond ring had no inscribed magic circles, yet it could match and implement any magic circle.
If so, could the raw gemstones not be inscribed but rather attached to objects as conduits for magic? This was her hypothesis.
To test this, she poured a substantial amount of magic into the newly inscribed subspace magic circle. She cut the raw gemstones into squares and attached them to a cypress wood box, then activated the subspace magic.
The cypress wooden box, roughly the size of a 32-inch travel bag, successfully contained the subspace magic. Due to its size or the amount of magic infused, the expansion of space inside the box was significantly larger compared to the small subspace bags she had used before.
“Wow.”
Surprised at the ease of success, an exclamation of awe escaped Sylvia’s lips.
“Is it always this easy?”
She couldn’t help but wonder.
Magic, it seemed, wasn’t inherently easy.
Eryngium, munching on rice balls beside her, shook her head and replied.
[No way! It’s because you have the power of Aethernum-nim. And that ring… the one Felix gave you, it’s an object that has condensed the power of the Black Dragon.]
Sylvia, unaware of these details, widened her eyes in surprise at the fairy’s explanation.
“Wow, wow.”
She had thought the protagonist, a bit arrogant, had given her something less significant, as the ring had no inscribed magic circles and was given away so easily.
“Turns out, he’s more principled than I thought. Or, did he like my fruits that much?”
A giggle escaped her lips. Even if he liked the fruits, trusting her with such a valuable item seemed too generous.
After making one, the subsequent boxes were created smoothly. She continued making cypress wooden boxes with lids that opened like travel bags.
After embedding the gemstones and expanding the space with subspace magic, she also applied storage magic. Five cypress boxes glowed faintly, neatly arranged in the living room.
Eryngium, having finished the rice balls and watermelon, fluttered and perched on Sylvia’s head.
[But how are you going to carry those around?]
To the fairy’s question, Sylvia replied confidently.
“Watch this.”
She took out a custom-ordered leather backpack from her subspace bag. The leather bag was embedded with real gems, a turquoise aquamarine sparkling brilliantly.
Sylvia injected more magic into the subspace magic circle than before and cast the magic on the backpack.
While smaller than the cypress boxes, the subspace magic infused into it was much larger. The difference between using raw gemstones and actual gems was stark.
Satisfied that it could hold as much as she wanted, Sylvia let out a deep and heavy sigh. She had rarely been this tired from using magic, but today was undoubtedly the most exhausting.
As Sylvia nearly collapsed, Eryngium tugged at her hair, speaking with a worried tone.
[Go inside! Lie down.]
Heeding the fairy’s words, Sylvia struggled to her feet and shuffled slowly. She entered a small room on the first floor and flopped onto a netted wooden bed.
“Erin, I’m going to sleep…”
Unable to finish her sentence, Sylvia fell asleep immediately. Eryngium, after confirming her steady breathing, let out a small sigh of relief.
The fairy then lay down beside her, closing her lavender eyes. The gentle sound of Sylvia’s breathing was incredibly soothing.
★★20. Selling Lunch Boxes★★
Sylvia was humming cheerfully as she prepared lunch boxes. She had decided to start with two simple menu items: a carrot, red onion, red and yellow bell pepper, and avocado rice ball, and the other was an egg sandwich.
First, she boiled a large egg in water with vinegar and salt. In mid-air, water and fire elements mingled, illuminating the space where the egg rolled around.
Next, she finely chopped the vegetables and mashed the soft avocado with mayonnaise.
With a generous amount of vegetables and avocado mayonnaise in a bowl, she took out the bread she had bought. She had already removed the crusts and stored them separately.
She heated a pan with oil, using wind and fire magic to raise the temperature, and cut the bread crusts into small pieces. After lightly toasting them with fire magic, she added sugar and water she had prepared earlier. Then, she mixed them with caramel syrup made from butter and milk.
Popping one in her mouth, Sylvia tapped her feet joyfully.
“Yum! Delicious.”
Her hard work growing sugarcane had paid off. She had been consistently producing sugar. The process involved boiling down the scant juice from sugarcane to create a sticky, caramel-like sugar, which she then dried with wind magic to produce granulated sugar.
The yield was meager compared to the amount of sugarcane, so she had to repeat the process frequently. The sugar, closer to brown sugar than white, was less sweet.
However, it had a unique quality that made it stick pleasantly in the mouth. Eryngium often collapsed from exhaustion during this process. As Sylvia popped another caramel bread popcorn into her mouth, Eryngium flew in.
[Give me some too!]
It seemed the fairy had been drawn by the sweet scent while working in the living room. Sylvia cooled a piece of bread popcorn with her breath and handed it to the tiny hands of the fairy.
[Ah.]
Eryngium opened her mouth wide and bit into the caramel bread popcorn.
[Wow!]
She cheered with her wings fluttering energetically.
“Delicious, isn’t it?”
Instead of replying, the fairy vigorously nodded while Sylvia lifted the boiled eggs from the bubbling water. She then created ice water with ice magic and cooled the hot eggs, which made a hissing sound due to their large size.
After peeling the eggs, she separated the yolks and whites, mashing the yolks and mixing them with mayonnaise. Since the eggs were quite large, the amount of homemade mayonnaise she had prepared was ample.
Making mayonnaise was easy with just oil, egg yolks, and lemon juice, so she often made it. She seasoned the yolk and mayonnaise mixture with sugar, salt, and pepper.
She finely chopped the egg whites with wind magic and mixed them with the seasoned yolks. Generously spreading the mixture on the crustless bread, she covered it with another slice and cut it in half using wind magic.
Sylvia began to neatly stack the egg sandwiches in small square containers.
[That looks delicious.]
Eryngium approached, secretly eating more caramel bread popcorn. Crumbs were all around her mouth.
“I’ll make some for you too, don’t worry.”
[Hehe, I love Sylvia!]
The fairy, perched on her turquoise head, expressed her joy with fluttering wings. Sylvia quickly finished making the egg sandwiches and opened the lid of the rice cooker that had been steaming.
Woosh.
Steam billowed out from the large pot. She stirred the rice evenly with wind magic, then floated it in the air and cooled it with a gentle breeze.
She mixed the prepared chopped vegetables with the rice, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and finished with a drizzle of olive oil instead of sesame oil. The freshly pressed olive oil was very fresh and tasty, with the scent of olives and chopped paprika adding a refreshing and rich flavor.
Using wind magic instead of her hands, she formed the rice into round shapes and filled them with avocado mayonnaise. She neatly packed them into containers of the same size as those used for the egg sandwiches.
She then beautifully arranged cherry tomatoes and long-sliced cucumbers in each box. After making about 200, Sylvia placed all the lunch boxes into her newly made subspace backpack. She also prepared an adequate amount of barley and corn tea to match the quantity of lunch boxes.
“There’s still plenty of space left even with all these inside. I wonder how much it can hold?”
With a sense of pride and excitement, Sylvia exclaimed energetically.
“Eryngium, let’s go sell our lunch boxes!”
[What about these, Sylvia? Aren’t you taking them?]
Seemingly fond of the taste, Eryngium gestured towards the stack of caramel bread popcorn while munching on another piece.
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Sylvia quickly packed the caramel bread popcorn into a large lunch box and grabbed some prepared paper bags.
“Now, let’s really go!”
[Yes!]
With confident steps, Sylvia opened the door. The morning sun bathed the day in warm light, the air fresh and cool. It was the beginning of summer following the end of winter, and the streets bustled with people.
Mercenary groups were busily moving towards their next assignments, while food and other stores that had been closed during the winter were now busy sweeping their front yards.
Casually shouldering her backpack, Sylvia headed towards the city gates. Caprasinus City had three main gates. Although the first to third gates were always crowded, mercenaries mostly used the second or third gates, which led to the monster-infested Chebusalatus Mountains.
“Where should I go… Usually, I go to the nearby third gate, but maybe I should try the second gate this time?”
After a moment of contemplation, Sylvia resumed her walk. She moved quickly, with wide strides, speaking to Eryngium.
“Starting a new business in a new place sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s walk a bit more, Eryngium.”
With a cheerful smile, Sylvia hopped once.
[Are we going to the second gate? Haven’t been there much, have we?]
“This time, we’ll make it our new path.”
Chatting with the fairy, Sylvia passed the third gate and headed towards the second. The once snow-filled streets were now melting rapidly under the intense sunlight, flowing into the drains.
As she walked, enjoying the bubbling sound of the melting snow and observing the bustling crowd, the second gate, as tall as ten times the height of an average person, came into view, teeming with people just like the third gate. The massive iron gate stood imposingly, revealing its grandeur.
The high areas of the iron gate, untouched by human hands, showed a reddish hue due to rust, while the lower areas had a small door for easy passage.
Most people entering through this small door were either armored or robed. Sylvia set down her backpack, carefully choosing a spot to observe the passersby.
Clank, clank.
The sound of armor clashing drew Sylvia’s attention, and she called out impulsively.
“Hey, handsome mercenary over there!”
Her clear and refreshing voice filled the air, causing mercenaries of various hair colors to turn their heads. Although she didn’t show it, Sylvia internally cheered ‘Yes!’ and gestured lightly, almost like a butterfly.
“Handsome mercenary, do you need a lunchbox?”
