コンテストに向けて・その2
調合室は直射日光を遮るカーテンのせいで薄暗かった。
ボコボコと液体が沸き立つ鍋を掻き混ぜるリィズはまるで本の中の魔女のようで......。
「――って、ちょっと待て! あれ? リィズお前、回復薬を出品するって言ってなかった!?」
俺の声に気付いたリィズが手を止めてこちらを見る、
手袋とマスクを着けての完全防備で、鍋に近付くと目も鼻も凄まじく痛い。
これは絶対に回復薬じゃない!
「何を言っているのですかハインドさん。これは回復薬(毒薬)ですよ? うふふ......」
「きちんと回復薬と発音しているのに、何か物騒な副音声が聞こえた気がするんだが」
俺の耳がおかしいの? それとも回復薬に行き詰まり過ぎて、お前がおかしくなったの?
取り敢えず換気のためにカーテンを全開にすると、やはりその液体の色は底の見えない濁った紫色だった。
どう見ても毒薬じゃないか......。
「もういっそのこと、開き直って毒薬を中心に開発していっても良いんじゃないのか?」
「......でもハインドさん、前に回復薬の方が嬉しいって......」
言ったなぁ、そういえば。
それに関してはこちらの言い方が全面的に悪かったな。
俺の場合は自分の役割がPTの回復役ということもあり、そういう立場と考えから発した言葉だったわけで。
毒薬では役に立たない、という意味では決して無いのだ。
しかしそれを伝えてもリィズの表情は晴れない。
どうしたもんかな......。
「毒は毒で、セレーネさん用に毒矢を製造したりとか。もちろん普通に敵に投げてもいいし、用途は色々あるだろう? 決して回復薬の方が上だって言ってるわけじゃないよ。気にするな」
「......」
「――だから、回復薬は一緒に作っていこう。一緒に開発して、時間が合わない時はレシピ通りに同じ物を量産するだけなら何も問題ないはず」
「! 一緒に......?」
「ああ。元々そういう約束だっただろう? コンテストが終わったら余裕が出来るし、回復薬はそこから本格的に始めよう。任せっきりにして悪かったな」
「憶えていて下さっ――いえ、そうですね。兄さんが約束を破ったことはありませんし、私が焦ってしまっただけですね......。こちらこそ、申し訳ありませんでした」
頭を下げてくるリィズに非は無い。
ここ暫くトビと一緒に農地と鍛冶の補助に回ることが増えていたので、その流れで調合はリィズ一人に押し付ける流れになってしまっていた。
今回の出品物は別として、回復薬に関しては今回のコンテストが終わったら二人でのんびりやれば良いということで互いに納得。
適性の低いことを無理に頑張る必要はないのだ。ゲームという娯楽相手ならば尚の事。
リィズなら言わなくても理解しているだろうと思い込み、言葉にしなかった俺の責任だ。反省。
「......そういうことでしたら、今回は回復薬以外の物で勝負することにします」
「うん。状態異常薬だって種類は多いしな。毒、痺れ、やけどに睡眠と」
「何か工夫をしてみます。......ところでハインドさん。ハインドさんが持ってきたアデニウムですけど......」
「ああ、例の色素移動の失敗作。薬草や毒草に変質したのも結構あってさ、リィズの役に立つかと思って持ってきたんだが」
「本当ですか? ありがとうございます。このアデニウム、花ではなく緑の鮮やかな部分が毒なんですか。へえ......」
気分が持ち直したらしいリィズは、持ってきたアデニウムを眺めて考え込む。
その様子に何やら嫌な予感が募るが......。
取り敢えずテーブルの上に持ってきた素材アイテムを並べて置いておく。
それから作業を続けるリィズの横で散らかった器具を片付けたり、掃除をしたりした後はまた移動だ。
「リィズ、状態異常薬をいくつか貰っていって良いか?」
「あ、はい、大丈夫ですよ。回復薬を作ろうとして失敗したものが沢山ありますから......ふふ......」
「お、おう。この辺のがそうだな? ありがとう。明日以降になるけど、コンテスト用の毒薬も少しは手伝えるから。それまでは一人で頼むな」
「はい、待ってます」
ガチャガチャと怪しい色の液体が入った瓶をインベントリに詰めていく。
次に俺は炉の無い小さい方の工房、トビが作業中の場所へと向かった。
「作るもん決まったかー? 決まらないなら糞不味い兵糧丸作るぞ、兵糧丸」
「まだそのネタ引っ張ってたの!? 嫌だよ!」
部屋に入るなり、トビに作業の進捗状況を訊ねる。
今回のコンテストの主役であるセレーネさんが後は一人で大丈夫と宣言したので、ようやく俺達も自分達の出品物に取り掛かり始めたわけだが......。
はっきり言って余り時間は無く、今日中に案を纏めて作業に取り掛からなければならない。
トビは温めていた忍者道具のアイディアの中から、現状で作れそうな物を選ぶということなのだが。
を作ろうかと思ったのでござるが、セレーネ殿に頼むのは無しでござるよなぁ?」
「無しだろう。ウチのギルド内では一番コンテストでの期待値が高いんだし、なるべく集中出来る環境でやって欲しいからな。彼女のことだ、頼まれたら断らないだろうから絶対に言うんじゃないぞ?」
「そうでござるよな......うーん、そうなると現状では......うーん......」
悩まし気な声を出すトビを見て、俺は少し考える。
別に前に作った焙烙玉を改良したりとかでも有りだと思うんだけど。
しかし今のトビの頭の中は投げ苦無で一杯で、時間を掛けさせても他のアイディアが出てきそうな気配はない。
「......それくらいなら、俺が街の鍛冶場に行って作ってこようか?」
「本当でござるか!?」
「ああ。セレーネさん程の精度は望むべくもないけど、そこそこの物で構わないなら作ってやるよ」
「さすがわっち! 頼りになるぅ!」
「調子のいい奴......」
そんな訳で、細かな寸法やデザインについての話し合いを開始。
投擲武器は取引掲示板での出品が少なく、層の薄いカテゴリなのでコンテストでの成績もそれなりに期待できる。
「苦無に限らず手裏剣でも良いんじゃねえの? 棒型手裏剣とか、毒を仕込み易そうだけど」
「定番でござるし、そっちも考えてみるでござるよ。薬はリィズ殿の物を使用するとして......」
「問題は薬をどうやって武器に保持させるかだよな。溝を作って流し込むとか、薬そのものを粘性の高い状態に改良するとか......」
すだけでは、やはり今一つでござるか?」
「使ってんのがランクの高い状態異常薬ならそれでも効くとは思う。でも、一本辺りの効果が高いに越したことはないだろう? 特に投擲武器は使い切りなんだし、敵を状態異常にするまでに投げる本数は少ない方が良いって」
それによって一本が多少高額になっても、結果的に戦闘時の隙は減ることになる。
更に投擲武器の使用には短いながらもWTがあるため、同じアイテムを連続で投げられるわけではないという都合もある。
「それと直接毒を投げた場合との差別化のためにも、しっかり表皮に傷をつける“切れ味”と瓶より長い“飛距離”は大事だ。その辺りの実用性も良く考えてデザインしてくれ」
「了解でござる! ......むむ? その口振りからして、残りの細かい部分は拙者が一人で決めるのでござるか?」
「まあ、そういうこと。悪いけど俺も、裁縫のための材料調達とかあるからかかりっきりは無理だ。鍛冶の時間はちゃんと作るから、明日までにデザインを完成させて渡しに来てくれよ」
「そりゃそうでござるな。そんな忙しい中で作ってくれるだけでもありがたいことでござるよ。で、ハインド殿はやはり裁縫でござるか」
「うん。で、俺はこれから街に出てくるから後はよろしく」
そのまま羊皮紙を取り出して図面を引き始めたトビを残し、俺はホームの出入り口を目指して工房を出た。
裁縫の材料である布に関してはNPCのクラリスさんに頼んであるので、これから街に出なければならない。
Chapter 115 - Towards The Contest, Part 2.
In the compounding room, sunlight was blocked due to a curtain which made the room quite dim.
Riizu looked like a witch straight out of a book when she was stirring the boiling liquids inside a pot...
[...W-Wait a moment! Eh? Riizu, you, didn't you say you were going to enter healing medicine in the contest!?] (Hind)
Riizu, who heard my voice, stopped and looked at me.
She was completely protected by wearing gloves and a mask, if you got closer to the pot, your eyes and nose would start to hurt.
This is definitely not healing medicine!
[What are you saying, Hind-san? This is healing medicine (poison), you know? Ufufu...] (Riizu)
[Even though you clearly said healing medicine, I get the feeling I heard something quite disturbing from your inner voice?] (Hind)
Are my ears defective? Besides, have you turned crazy because we were not making any progress with healing items?
For the time being, I opened the curtains to air out the room and just as I had expected, the liquid was of a muddy violet color and you couldn't see the bottom of the pot.
No matter how you look at it, isn't this poison...?
[Wouldn't it be fine for you to consider just focusing on poison?] (Hind)
[...But Hind-san, you said last time that you'd be happier with healing medicine...] (Riizu)
Now that I think about it, I did say that.
In that regard, I was in the wrong because of my poor choice of words.
My own role within the party is that of the healer, so thinking from that point of view, I had decided to focus on healing items.
I definitely didn't mean that poison didn't have any use.
But even when I told Riizu that, her expression didn't brighten up.
What should I do...?
[Poison is poison, Selene-san could use it to make poisoned bolts or the like. Obviously, you could use it normally and just throw it at the enemies, there's quite a lot of uses for it? It's not like I'm saying that healing items are superior. Don't mind it.] (Hind)
[...] (Riizu)
[...That's why, let's develop healing medicine together. We'll progress together and when our times don't match, if you just follow the recipe and mass produce them, there shouldn't be any problems.] (Hind)
[!!...Together?] (Riizu)
[Yeah. That was the deal from the beginning, right? We should have time for it after the contest, we can start developing healing medicine for real after that. Sorry for leaving all the work to you until now.] (Hind)
[You remembere-...no, you are right. There's no way that nii-san would break a promise after all, it seems like I was just being hasty...I should be the one apologizing here.] (Riizu)
It was not something Riizu should lower her head for.
For the time being, I had been focusing on the agricultural side and blacksmithing with Tobi assisting me, so it turned out that I had left compounding to Riizu alone.
Leaving aside the product we'll display in this contest, we agreed that we'll take it easy and make healing medicine once the contest ends.
There's no need to force her to do it if her aptitude for it is low. Especially if it would get in the way of her enjoyment of the game.
I thought Riizu would have understood that even if I didn't say anything, it's my responsibility because I didn't voice it out. I'm reflecting on that.
[...In that case, I'll tackle the contest with something that is not healing medicine.] (Riizu)
[Right. There are a lot of categories for status ailments after all. Poison, paralysis, burn, sleep etc.] (Hind)
...By the way, Hind-san. Regarding the Adeniums that you have brought here...] (Riizu)
[Ah, you mean the failed products that had their colors changed. There were quite a few that turned into medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs, I thought they would be useful to you so I brought them here.] (Hind)
[Really? Thank you very much. These Adeniums, instead of the petals, the vivid green parts are poisonous? I see...] (Riizu)
Having returned to normal, Riizu was now looking at the Adeniums I had brought and thinking about something.
I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this though...
For the time being, I placed the materials on top of the table and lined them up.
After that, I started cleaning the tools while Riizu was working. After I'm done here, I'll go somewhere else again.
[Riizu, can I take some status ailment medicine?] (Hind)
[Ah, yes, it's fine. There were a lot of failures while I was making healing medicine after all...fufu...] (Riizu)
[O-OK. These ones over here, right? Thanks. Starting from tomorrow, I'll be helping you a bit with the poison you are going to display in the contest. Until then, you'll be on your own.] (Hind)
[Yes, I'll be waiting.] (Riizu)
I put the liquid with a suspicious color inside a bottle and put it inside my inventory.
Next, I headed towards a workshop without a furnace, it was where Tobi was currently working.
[Have you decided on what you are going to make? If you haven't, I'll make some nasty military provisions for you, you know?] (Hind)
[You are bringing that up again!? I don't want them!] (Tobi)
After entering the room, I asked Tobi how his work was going.
Since the main character in this contest, Selene-san, said that she could do the rest of the work by herself, we returned to our own work but...
Honestly speaking, there was not much time left, we had to decide what we wanted to do by today and start working.
We had to choose something doable from the ninja tools that Tobi had in mind but...
[...I thought about making kunais that inflicted status ailments when thrown at enemies, however, it would be impossible to ask Selene-dono for help with them, right?] (Tobi)
[That would be impossible. She's the one we have the highest expectations of from our guild, I would like to give her the best conditions possible so she can concentrate. It's her after all, she probably wouldn't refuse if you asked her for help, so don't go and ask her, you hear me?] (Hind)
[You are right...yup, in that case, given our current situation...yup...] (Tobi)
Looking at how troubled Tobi looked, I started to think a bit.
I mean, we could just make improvements on the Bo-hiya we made before and go with that.
However, Tobi seems to be focused on the idea of making throwable kunais and even if I gave him more time to think about other ideas, it doesn't seem like he'll be able to do so.
[...If it's only that, should I go to the town's blacksmith workshop and make them?] (Hind)
[Really!?] (Tobi)
[Yeah. I might not be as skilled as Selene-san but if you don't mind them being so-so, I'll make them for you.] (Hind)
[As expected of Wacchi! I can depend on you!] (Tobi)
[You sure are easygoing...] (Tobi)
With that said, we started to discuss the measurements and the details.
Throwing weapons are scarce products in the trading BBS, since it's a category most people wouldn't participate in, I have some expectations about it.
[We could not limit it to just kunais and go for shurikens also? Like stick type shurikens, they look like it would be easy to add poison onto them.] (Hind)
[Since those are pretty standard too, I'll think about it. As for the drugging effect, we could use Riizu-dono's stuff and...] (Tobi)
[The problem would be how to retain the drugs applied to the weapons. We could make a gap in them and pour it there, or maybe reform the drug itself into an high viscosity state...] (Hind)
[I guess it wouldn't be enough to just apply them on top of them?] (Tobi)
[If what we were using were high rank status ailment drugs, I think that would work. However, the effect of each one isn't that high, right? Especially since throwable weapons are single use, You'd want to use as fewer as possible to inflict an status ailment on an enemy.] (Hind)
Given the price of a single item being considerable, considering the effect they have, the times you would use them in a fight would decrease.
Furthermore, throwable weapons, while short, also have a short CD, there's also the fact that you can't continuously throw the same items in quick succession.
[Other than that, in order to differentiate it from throwing the poison directly, it's important for it to have the "sharpness" that makes it able to inflict wounds and be able to be thrown a "longer distance" compared to a bottle. Please think of that sort of practicality.] (Hind)
[Understood! ...Nunu? From how you are saying that, do you mean that I have to decide the rest of the minute details by myself?] (Tobi)
[Well, pretty much. I feel bad, but I have to procure materials for my sewing too so it would be impossible for me to do so. I'll make sure to make time for the blacksmithing so...please make the designs by tomorrow and then hand them over to me.] (Hind)
[You are right. I'm grateful that you are going to make time for it even though you are so busy. So, you are going with sewing in the end as expected?] (Tobi)
[Yup. So, I'll be heading to town now therefore, I'll be leaving the rest to you.] (Hind)
After that, I left Tobi, who had taken out a parchment and started working on the design behind and I left the guild home and headed towards the workshop.
I had the NPC Claris-san for the cloth that I would need for my sewing, so I had no choice but to head towards the town.
VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～
ＶＲＭＭＯの支援職人　～トッププレイヤーの仕掛人～
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/vrmmo-no-shien-shokunin-%ef%bd%9etop-player-no-shikakenin%ef%bd%9e/
Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Harem Slice of Life
Adventurers Beautiful Female Lead Blacksmith Brother Complex Calm Protagonist Childhood Friends Clan Building Cooking Crafting Curious Protagonist Dense Protagonist Elemental Magic Fantasy Creatures Game Ranking System Gamers Hard-Working Protagonist Healers Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Love Rivals Male Protagonist Misunderstandings MMORPG Ninjas Possessive Characters Priests Siblings Siblings Not Related by Blood Sword And Magic Virtual Reality Younger Love Interests Younger Sisters
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4014ds/
二階堂風都