Reborn as the Hero's Daughter

As Maxwell and I returned to Raum, he immediately headed to Cortina. We were going to cut the Elixir into six parts and give it to each of the Six Heroes. For that, I had to do some fiddling.

That is, I had to make sure to find a container that wouldn’t leak the smell when I was acting as Nicole. But at the same time, I needed to be able to let the smell out of the container when I return to being Reid.

“In other words, you need a container that you can hermetically seal and open at will.”

“Do you have something so convenient lying around?” fre𝑒𝘸𝚎𝚋n૦ѵℯl.c𝒐𝘮

“I do not, but after seeing Sir Aste, I have something in mind.”

“Meaning?”

“We can just make what we do not have.”

“Hmm?”

And with that, I started working to seal the Elixir fragment inside my Talisman as Maxwell instructed. Naturally, I couldn’t make one on the spot, so I stayed behind in Maxwell’s mansion to keep working.

In the meantime, Maxwell visited the rest of our comrades to explain the situation.

While he was gone I was processing the Talisman.

I first cut the top half off, and started to hollow out the inside of the lower half. The oscillation of the dagger was super useful for this.

Since I bisected it into two, I needed to tie a thread to keep them in place, but I was really thankful that the dagger could cut a tough fang of a Fang Wolf like butter.

While enduring the vibration that reached my wrists, I carefully gouged out the insides of it with its tip.

I only needed to put a fragment in it, so there was no need to make a big hole. Following that, I made it so the two halves wouldn’t fall off and were able to shut tight.

“Still, it would easily come undone at this rate. I wonder if there’s another way.”

I was a vanguard so I moved about a lot. If it slipped off inadvertently and let the smell out, those who knew about the situation could figure it out.

For that, I needed to find a method that would keep it tightly shut so it wouldn’t slip off.

“Having said that, it would also be problematic if only mine stood out from the rest… Can’t I do something with magic?”

I could only use the Interference System magic. I could already use middle-grade spells from it, but when it comes to spells to fix things in place——Then, I suddenly remembered one spell.

It was the spell that Maxwell used when we were infiltrating the slave merchant’s mansion in the Geeze Union.

“I think… It was called Hard Lock?”

The Hard Lock spell, unlike simple Lock, was a spell of the Interference System that didn’t simply lock things, but fixed the door and the wall in place and even further strengthened the structure’s material.

It was a spell that meddled with the structure, so there were ways to put it to use.

However, it only meddled with the part that opened, so its influence didn’t extend to the surrounding walls. As such, getting rid of the wall next to it like during that time was a common method to bypass it.

That said, I was just sealing the talisman this time, so that part didn’t worry me.

“I think I learned it too. How was it again…”

I dug out the magic formula that I hardly ever used from the back of my mind and started chanting it.

With the Hard Lock spell, once locked, the effect would stay permanent until the caster removed it, so it didn’t require magic power to maintain it.

You could say it was the ideal spell for my current goal.

I put the fragment inside the hollowed section, put the cover on, and activated the spell. Once I confirmed that they were stuck together, I tested whether or not I could open it, but it didn’t budge even with my full strength.

I should have also checked whether the smell was leaking or not, but the room was already full of it, so I wouldn’t be able to tell now.

I left Maxwell’s living room where I was working and moved to a place where the smell was no longer present.

On the way, just as I passed before the entrance, a suspicious man entered the mansion.

“Woah?”

“What do you mean, woah? I didn’t know you were here, young missy.”

“Oh, it’s you, Mateus. I hoped you died.”

“Why are you so heartless all of a sudden!?”

Of course, I would be, we were once engaged in a deathmatch. This much wasn’t even considered abuse.

That aside, I guess I should be glad he didn’t show up while I was working.

“Still, what’s with this smell. It stinks of grass.”

“You’d be picking a fight with Maria if she heard that.”

“Eek!?”

You could say this was the smell of the condensed sap of the World Tree. It was quite an abundant plant-like smell, but I wouldn’t call it stinky. 𝒇𝗿𝙚ℯ𝑤ℯ𝑏𝒏𝑜ѵe𝙡.c𝐨ｍ

Rather, you could call it an exquisite perfume whose smell was one step away from what would start bothering you.

If Maria, who was the World Tree believer heard his earlier remark, she would have probably kindly “treated” him.

In any case, his timing was good.

“Right, Mateus. Do I smell?”

“Yeah, you always smell of immaturity.”

“You’re dead.”

Just as I pulled out my dagger, Mateus jumped back and raised his hands. If you’re gonna act so scared, don’t make fun of me from the start.

“Anyway, answer seriously. The mansion smells too much so I can’t tell myself.”

“Ugh, you’re right.”

Since I had the fragment out until just a while ago, the whole mansion was full of the Elixir.

Thus I passed through the entrance and asked Mateus to confirm it again.

You could get used to smells surprisingly fast, so my nose couldn’t tell the subtle differences apart now.

“Hmm? Well, you have some grassy smell, but I guess it’s not too much?”

“Then how about this?”

I held out the Talisman with the fragment inside before his nose. He sniffed it and then once again shook his head.

“I don’t smell anything particular from it?”

“Okay, it’s a success!”

Mateus was an assassin, so his senses were very sharp. If he didn’t think anything of it, it seemed that sealing it off was a success.

In addition, the gossipy housewives in the neighborhood that witnessed this sight started spreading rumors that “Mateus was flirting with a young girl in front of Maxwell’s house”, but that had nothing to do with me.

Or well, I guess it had…