Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 19

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

Looking at the bundle of wooden tags in his hands, which were organized by his vines, Pumpkin muttered, “Um, I suppose I can cope with this for now.”

His next move was to develop a storage medium of some sort, even if it was only an initial one, after upgrading the base and constructing an ice house.

Over the course of many days of settling down, there were more research discoveries on [Resonance Spell?Sleep Cloud] than he had anticipated, and because his memory of some of the findings was beginning to wane, he hastily made this storage medium.

“Well then, I should write it down.”

He used a wooden tag made from leftover lumber was used to renovate the base and create the ice house as a paper… in short, the wooden tags functioned as a mokkan[i]. He applied ink—or, more accurately, a heated and water-diluted mixture of animal blood and fat—on the ends of the vines to record the outcomes of the experiments.

When utilized, this ink-like substance would turn red when air flowed through the vine’s tip and solidify into a black hue when left to dry. Interestingly, the reddish-black magic was subtly leaked out from the letters that were inscribed on the mokkan.

Yeah. This ink may be a dangerous substitute.

I should get more decent paper and ink as soon as possible after all. If a strange grimoire is made, it cannot be disposed of indiscreetly.

“Well, I suppose I still have to give up on that for now.”

Since there was no other option to take at the time, he surrendered himself to writing in a straightforward manner.

Once spring… arrives, I’ll go shopping in the town I saw in the distance!

Regarding the ink vessels, clay-like soil was discovered and was used to knead and bake the clay.

To effectively create frictional heat for the fire, dried straw, wooden planks, and sticks were rubbed together.

Well, ancient people were amazing. I never imagined that it would take so much time and effort to set a single fire.

…And to those who assert that plants cannot utilize fire: No, living plants are remarkably tolerant of fire, you know? They also retain a fair amount of water in their bodies.

“Now, things have settled.”

Despite Pumpkin’s recollection being somewhat vague and some of the results were ambiguous, he wrote down the results of his research on the mokkan.

Even if by any chance he forgot the results from now on, everything would be fine since he has written it down.

The characters written on the mokkan were of course in Japanese, but since he wasn’t familiar with this world’s linguistic structure, he was unsure whether it would be useful as a code or not.

Perhaps if he showed it to Mizuki, Pumpkin might understand the language system of this world.

“On second thought, there are a fair number of reincarnated people in this world, so it’s quite possible that there are other Japanese people here.”

While recalling Mizuki, it seemed that Mizuki had said something like that before.

If so, it may be subtle whether mere Japanese can be served as a code or not.

Well, I doubt that anyone would come this deep into the forest, enter the base where such a strange pumpkin resides, and look through or steal a mokkan that contains something cryptic.

Even if they did, it would be impossible for ordinary people to use it because it is based on the premise that I would use [Resonance].

“Now that I’m done writing, what should I do…?”

Having finished writing up the results of his research, he wondered about his next move.

If I am going to research [Resonance Spell?Sleep Cloud], I need to determine if there is a difference in effect between different parts of the plant, or if there is a variation depending on the time of harvest but… spring and summer are still a long way off.

That being said, since this is the only thing I have to write down in my search for new resonance magic… I guess I’ll just have to see if I can activate it and find out what it does.

Besides, if I am planning to go shopping in the spring, I need to think of a way to hide my true identity and a mean to obtain money.

“Mmm. Uh-huh. Hmm?”

So, here was the problem: how to conceal his true identity and how to make money.

For now ,he might earn money if he brought the various goods he obtained in the forest… specifically, bear and boar pelts, there would be people who would purchase them.

However, assuming that someone will take advantage of him and buy them at a lower price, it may be necessary to have a certain amount of goods.

But the key point was his true identity.

He was a pumpkin. There was an irrefutable fact.

Furthermore, he encountered a hunter just the other day, and considering the way he shot an arrow at him while shouting at the moment they encountered each other, it was inevitable that Pumpkin would be a target of attack from a human’s point of view.

He had to disguise his true identity in a way or else he wouldn’t be able to do any shopping.

“Shall I put on a bear pelt for the time being?”

He put on a cloak of bear fur with the meat and fat removed.

Maybe this would work? The vines under my face are well hidden. As long as no one sees inside the cloak, all should be well.

As for my hands… if I make them look like strange gloves, it will probably only raise suspicions.

Okay, this should do it…

“What about the head?”

“Houwah!? When did you get here, Mizuki!?”

“I just showed up. What are you doing?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Pumpkin told Mizuki that he was intending to go shopping in the town of humans when spring arrived.

Then…

“Hmm. Well, if you find anything good, please let me know.”

…That was all she said.

Mizuki, though, didn’t appear to have much of an interest in human society. He supposed her reaction was sensible.

“So, how are you going to cover up your head?”

“About that… maybe I will say it’s a headgear.”

So the main question came back to him.

Yeah. My head looks very fake, if I may say so myself. In relation to that, they would undoubtedly suspect that I am engaging in some form of fraudulent activity.

Well, this is just my own thoughts…

“If that’s the case, it would be more convincing if I said I was cursed by some strange magical beast.”

…but I think I will be brilliantly kicked out of the town if I said that.

But maybe the curse theory is really better… I’m a pumpkin… I can move the hole in my face… and I can hide my body parts with a cloak. If I pretend it’s a curse, I’ll have a good excuse even if I’m caught…

Maybe I should really do that…

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T/N:

[i] Wooden plate; a narrow strip of wood on which an official message is written (used in the Nara period) functioned as paper