Mob Protagonist ~ Mob in the Novel But There is a Problem

Chapter 109.1

Chapter 109.1. Meetings Make Me Sleepy

The object on the table was a flower petal. The color of the flower is space color. The petals are jet black, like a star-filled sky, with countless glowing starlights. The shape of the petals is beautiful, like a lily.

“This is the Magic Flower Cosmo. What’s this about?”

I handed the item to Grandpa Odin. Grandpa studied the item from various perspectives, and now he stores the notebooks he studied on the bookshelf in My Room.

Incidentally, the bookshelf is a subspace warehouse, so we can store items indefinitely. When I asked Grandpa Odin if he could digitize them, he said he would only use them for what he needed during his research, because digitization is far less secure and has a much shorter shelf life than magically granted books.

The god Odin seeks wisdom. He’s far superior to humans and others. Odin is truly a god, even though he was created from the world of games. He’s a god of war and magic.

“You said a child gave that to you? By a child everywhere.”

Grandpa Odin squints, his eyes sharp as knives.

“That’s right. It was a simple quest, I think. Flower seed quests were all over the place in the game. I completed it super fast.”

Seed quests, they’re easy quests to get. I am willing to call out every time I see a young girl at the Adventurer’s Guild. But what does this mean? It’s a low-level seed. They’re magic flowers of about level 5. At the alchemist’s store in the game, they sold them for 500 yen a dozen.

“Judging from your attitude, it must be a flower of little value. Indeed, its effect is not much. Even if you mix it in a potion, it only increases the amount of HP recovered by 1 or 2. So, it’s worthless.”

“Well, I still got it. I’ll make many of them, and after I raise my alchemist’s skill level, I’ll use Fusion to change it to one of the higher species.”

After all, there are no alchemist stores in this world. So, since we can’t easily buy seeds, I have no choice but to prepare them myself. I’m a grumpy little girl, flapping my legs.

“It’s worthless to us. The fact that the child had it makes it worthless to the people of this world. I looked it up, and it seems Magic Flower Cosmo can be found in dungeons very rarely.”

He takes the tablet in his small side in one hand and projects the screen with a familiar motion. Frigg-oneesan and I lean forward to check the contents of the projected image.

“Magic Flower Cosmo. It’s a magic flower that blooms in dungeons. At the time of its discovery, there were high hopes for its effectiveness. But the mana contained in it was too small to be of a practical level, and even if it were to be grown, it would not harbor mana unless in a dungeon, so it was deemed only worthwhile as an ornamental item. ……?”

Heh, that’s not what the flavor text in the game says. Is this how it’s get treated in the novel?

“If you don’t raise it in the dungeon, it won’t contain mana?”

“Good point, Frigg. Usually, magic flowers can only grow in a space filled with mana inside a dungeon. After this, you’ll find the results of the research conducted by this institute, but it seems that in the outside world, they can only grow in lands where there are high-level plant monsters around.”

Odin raises the edge of his mouth in amusement at Frigg-oneesan’s words. She sounds like a researcher.

“Where did you get this research material from? But I know what you’re talking about. I can raise them in My Room, but not outside.”

“That’s a statement you don’t understand at all, young lady. We can grow this stuff outside. You know the Gardo Farm, don’t you?”

“Even if we could grow it outside, what’s the point? It’s not very good, is it?”

Mii-chan is smart. Mhm. But can you tell me what the point is?

“It doesn’t. Even if you grow flowers in Gardo Farm, you can only grow flowers that are far degraded compared to those in the dungeon or My Room, but even so, it produces the least effect. Not zero, but one effect.”

“It’s like a game. The Quality Improvement Potion I always increases the effect by at least one.”

Seeing that Grandpa Odin’s explanation is long, Frigg-oneesan says as she munches her gems. But only 1, right?

“And this will be the answer to your question, young lady.”

Furthermore, what Odin brought out to the table was a sign. Hmmm? What’s this? It’s a very old sign.

“It’s a Substitution Charm. If the wearer puts their mana into it and holds it in their pocket, it will take the damage.”

“Oh, I know. That’s the kind of thing that’s expensive but ineffective. The ones that cost millions of yen but can’t even prevent a single magic attack. I found it when I was looking for an item to protect Yoshiyuki, according to the young lady’s wish. It’s expensive but useless.”

“Wow, I know, I know, right? Oh, that’s expensive, isn’t it, the one that costs millions of yen and doesn’t even protect against a single magic attack?”

Frigg-oneesan looks bored and tells me what kind of effect it has by looking at the sign. Of course, even Mii-chan knows it. I’m not just going to ask Frigg-oneesan.

Mii-chan makes the marlin tuna swim bash-bash-bash-bash in her eyes, but Grandpa continues talking, not caring.

“That’s right. This Substitution Charm is also related to the ability of the magician who creates it, and the quality of the ink, brush, and Japanese paper used as materials. The paper and ink are especially problematic. All of them must be made of magic materials. But because good quality materials are not available, even if the surgeon is top-notch, the Substitution Charm ends up being of less than third-rate quality.”

With this charm, the damage it can prevent would be about 50, he sniffs. Is that about right? Then I can understand why it was discontinued. Magic tools that generate magic barriers are far more efficient.

“You can have as many as you want, but when it’s activated, it affects all of the mana-filled marks, even if you have 10 of them, if even one of them takes a blow, they’re all gone. It’s a technique that’s no longer in use.”

“So all you need is the material?”

“I assume that, in game terms, if you have materials from a plant system of about level 50, and from a wooden monster, you can make a Substitution Charm of about level 30. Of course, the ink and the symbols are also equivalent to level 50.”

There was no Substitution Charm in the game, but it’s an easy analogy to understand.