Chapter 703

The idea is amazing, but…
Ojisama briskly brushed the snow piled on his head away, then reached for the bottle of fire liquor within arm’s reach.

Eeeeeh, you’re still drinking!?

“Galvano, you’re not planning to keep drinking, are you? Stop it for now.”

Otousama, wearing an exasperated expression, voiced the exact retort going through my head.

“Telling a dwarf like me not to drink is a dull joke. If I don’t have a hair-of-the-dog, my rhythm’s all off from the morning.”

Saying that, Ojisama tipped the bottle back and gulped down the fire liquor.
Despite its extremely high alcohol content, he drank it with a hearty glug glug glug—pahh! like it was delicious, while Owen-san and Tirie-san watched with grimaced faces.

“Honestly… I’m really glad we didn’t let the children come alone. Hey, hurry up and bring out the finished product.”

Otousama tapped the table with a ton while casting a cold gaze at them.

“Y-yes, sir!”

Perhaps sensing the cold air creeping up from the floor, Owen-san jumped up with a pyah! and hurriedly brought over a box that had been sitting on the counter.

“This is what I want you to see! The Automatic Shaved Ice Maker, Revision 3!”

With a dramatic ta-dah! flourish, he pulled it from the box.
It had a shape like a cylinder slightly cinched in the middle, with large magic stones embedded at the top and bottom. Surrounding them, magic circles were woven in like decorative patterns.

Those magic-circle-like engravings extended along the sides, and at the narrowed center, shaped to be easy to grip, another small magic stone was attached.

“Oh? It certainly looks quite beautiful.”
“As expected of Your Excellency! You have a keen eye!”

Owen-san, please stop looking so smug just because you were praised.

“… Hm? Revision 3?”

Even though this is the first unveiling?

“Oh, you noticed? Actually, Unit One was finished pretty early on, but since we had such good materials, we kept piling on improvements!”

Y-you really did do it after all—!
Improvements? Not magical overhauls!?
I wanted to see the prototype first, even if it was rough!

“… Very well. Explain.”

Otousama raised one eyebrow and prompted Owen-san to continue.

“Gladly! First, the standard shaved ice. You hold this over the container you want to use, then channel a little magic power into this button…”

He pulled over a nearby glass, probably used for drinking last night, held the magic tool above it, and sent magic power through it—

“Wow…!”

Fluffy ice was produced from the magic stone embedded in the bottom of the tool, softly piling up inside the glass.

“See, there’s water present in the air. The magic power flowing from this stone here travels through the side magic circuits from the upper stone, gathering moisture from the air along the way. When the magic power reaches the magic circle at the bottom, the preset shaved ice comes out from the embedded magic stone, simple as that!”

“Preset? Specifications?”

At Mariel-chan’s innocent question, Owen-san grinned.

“Excellent question!”

Holding the magic tool proudly, Owen-san grabbed the base, twisted his wrist, and removed the bottom piece.

“Take this off, then attach this included piece… click. Then, when you channel magic power again…”

As Owen-san sent magic power through it once more, this time crunchy, coarse ice came out.

N-no way—an attachment system!?

“Yeah, I wanted to handle it with a switch, but that didn’t work out. I thought about making separate tools for each spec, but this way, you just swap out the bottom magic circle adjusted for each specification, and you’re good, right?”

Owen-san flashed a toothy grin.

No, no, no.
I came here thinking it’d just be a shaved ice maker that automatically dispenses ice, and now it has variations too…!?

Isn’t this just too amazing?

“Owen-san… this is wonderful!”

When I praised him without reservation, he puffed up with an even smugger expression.

(What is it… I don’t really get it, but I kinda want to punch that smile.)

Hey now, Mashiro, stop trying to ask for permission via telepathy like, (Hey, Cristea, can I punch him) Denied.

“And it doesn’t stop there!”

… Huh?

“By swapping in this separately prepared part, you can freeze a designated target!”

With a dramatic shing! he attached an even larger handle-equipped attachment than before, then channeled magic power toward a slab of bacon left on the table.

And then, would you believe it?
The bacon was encased in ice and frozen solid.

Ohhh, this could be really handy for freezing ingredients!
As I bounced with excitement at the thought, Otousama buried his face in his hands.

“… Please refrain from casually creating weapons.”

“… Eh?”

“Well, that’s the conclusion you’d come to, isn’t it?”

Tirie-san let out a long haa… sigh.

Weapons…? Ah~ right!
If the target were a person, it could absolutely become a weapon.

Regardless of the other attachments, that final one was banned from production by Otousama’s order as the lord.

What do you think about this chapter?