Chapter 11: Surf and Turf

The next stop on my journey is the fortress town of Calcust, there aren’t any nations to the west of the kingdom, but supposedly we were attacked via the tiny beach access here over one hundred years ago. The northern shores are so much easier to trade at that this beach is wasted, but since I don’t need to be in Calcust for another two days I’m setting up my crab traps.

I make camp in the mountains after the traps are setup to work on my largest project since being reborn. My spatial storage house. This is the real reason why I was so eager to get my hands on spell stones, with a significant enough supply I can recreate most of the conveniences of my last life.

I scouted the entirety of the mountains south of my father’s domain to scavenge the materials, and practiced using a combination of earth magic and condensed magic to sculp and form the stone. Eventually I was able to manipulate denser earth stone found further down mountains. I found a suitable slab of stone and cut out an irregular shape so it would resemble a typical rock formation. It’s 12 meters across and 12 meters deep with an 8 meter height over most of it, though there’s a small dip in height on the left for a special room.

I painstakingly carved the inside of it with condensed magic and earth magic to reach my ideal layout. The front has two entrances, one in the center that opens up to a living room area with couches and tables, as well as one on the left that opens into a large processing room to butcher animals. Past the processing room is another door leading to a large kitchen including spell stone powered ovens, fryers, burners and an ice box against the wall. Opposite the magic kitchen appliances is a two meter long bar with space underneath for cooking wares.

Past the bar and appliances is a wall of shelving with cups, plates and utensils. It’s not very filled as it was built large enough to hold spices and non-perishable cooking ingredients, but it’s just more convenient to keep them in spatial storage.

What lies beyond is the most important room in the entire house, and the reason for the dip in the ceiling. I call it my smoke and brew room, and it needed ventilation so I didn’t build anything above it. The entire left wall is a meat smoker, and the wall straight ahead is lined with a massive pizza oven. Neither use magic power to operate, magic is incredible, but it can’t replicate the flavor of smoked meats or woodfired pizzas. On the right is a brewing setup and a barrel of my latest experiment. I even made a bunch of copper piping so it looks like I can make moonshine, but I never learned how in my past life. Maybe I can learn it while traveling.

Past the living room are two guest rooms, each with two sets of beds, to their left is a spiral staircase that leads to more rooms upstairs, including my own. I meant to leave a large bath space left of the staircase, but what I’ve created is overkill. There’s a sliding door that opens to a closet and drying area, and past that I’ve built a large tub and a small tub as well as multiple standing showers. I don’t exactly have friends, but in case of emergency I wanted enough space to cram the estate residents in here.

The small tub is a cold plunge and the spell stone for it holds magic that constantly creates water just above freezing. To keep it clean there’s a second spell stone with spatial storage magic that drains water at the same rate, the large tub is a hot bath and works the same way. Spatial storage magic was a pain to get into spell stones, but it works in the best way possible. Each spell stone accesses a separate storage space, different from mine and different from any previous spell stones I’ve made. This lets me use them to keep water clean, recreate flushing toilets and even ventilate my smoke room.

Keeping them charged with magic is the key, if magic was ever interrupted all the spatial storage stones would kick out what’s inside, and considering I use them like a landfill, that would be an issue. I might just build a new house at that point, but to prevent this from happening I collected every spell stone I could and ran them through the floors to connect to all the magic appliances. At the center of this spell stone lining is one massive spell stone I charge with magic, it’s basically a generator that uses smaller spell stones as wiring. For most appliances you click a stone on the side of the wiring into place and complete the circuit causing the spell in the final stone to activate, but for anything using spatial storage, I made it impossible to disconnect.

There are some minor niceties as well, spell stones with light magic are on the walls downstairs. The beds all have a top layer of duck feathers, making them softer than my bed at home. The bedrooms all have closet space and desks/chairs, plus there’s a toilet on both floors. I’m in the process of connecting the rooms upstairs to the magic core of the house so there will be lights in each room, hopefully I can finish before I need to head off to Calcust.

***

Two days later I arrived at the fortress city, considering how unlikely war is to break out, it’s largely used for training younger knights. As a training city, there are several small sword fighting tournaments each year and I’m here for one such tournament.

I’m not here to limit test my skills, quite the opposite, I want to practice fighting at a human level without the intent to kill. I can nearly replicate the speed and strength of the sword instructor that father hired, but he’s supposedly a genius so I may need to tone it down from that as well.

The city is what you’d expect, high stone walls on the outside and residents clad in various levels of armor. The only unusual sight is a line of young knights approaching a check-in table. At least I know where to go.

After a few minutes in line I reach the front.

“Hello there, I’d like to register for the sword competition” I say with a light bow.

“Right, you look like a traveler.. It costs one silver to sign up, you’ll get it back if you don’t damage the practice sword we give you and don’t require healing. Winner of the event gets a new sword and knife set from the town’s newest blacksmith” the check in knight explains while looking me up and down.

I reach toward what looks like a chest pocket, but I’ve actually been practicing making a small spatial storage opening to use like a wallet.

“Understood, here’s the silver for registration” I reply and the knight takes my money.

“Got it, you’re number 40. When called, walk up to the staging area behind me, you’ll be given a practice sword then your first match along with an explanation of the rules. Matches will go until sun down or a winner is declared” the knight continues in monotone.

“Alright, thanks very much” I say and move away from the line.

An all-day fighting tournament, it’ll be better exercise than I thought it would be.

***
“NUMBER 39 AND 40” screams the only female knight I’ve seen in the city. I make my way to the staging area.

A boy no older than me also walks up and we’re given dulled swords and an explanation of the rules.

“No strikes to the face or neck. A winner can be decided by surrender, a telling blow or your opponent being unable to continue. Any questions?”

“”…”” we shake our heads.

“Right, step onto the stage and stand on the two marks in the dirt. No fighting until I give the signal”

39 and I take our places and ready our swords, I run a touch of magic into my blade to strengthen it on the walk up.

“BEGIN”

39 launches off the starting spot in the next instant. I’ve tuned my speed and strength to a little below that of my instructor back home, but still, this kid sucks. The ground he kicks off of doesn’t dent or crack in the slightest, he doesn’t even kick up some dust, it’s doubtful he’s using any magic to supplement his swordsmanship. I’ll get this over quick.

39 swings his sword from the right and across my body, I take a half step back to evade the strike then spin my right leg around my body clockwise swiping his feet from under him. He lets go of the practice sword as he falls backwards, allowing me to grab it by the handle. I hold both swords against his chest and look up to the referee.

“MATCH WINNER NUMBER 40”

The ref doesn’t look shocked, so I think this speed and strength is fine to show in front of people. That or everyone here knows this kid sucks.

I hand 39 his sword and exit the fighting area.

Over the next 4 hours I fight multiple times and win similarly to the first match. Most entrants were younger, so I wasn’t a spectacle beating men twice my size. That was until the semi-finals..

“NUMBER 6 AND 40” calls the announcer/referee.

I take my place on the same mark as every other match, but across from me is a full grown man. Or maybe an overgrown child? He has short blonde hair, light eyes and a furrowed brow, he looks at me like I’m a pest, but he doesn’t seem very mature.

“BEGIN”

Number 6 kicks off the ground throwing bits of dirt behind him, he can clearly use magic to supplement his technique.

He’s fast compared to the kids, and he’s well built, but everything seems slow when I’m focused. I can temper my speed and power, but not my reaction time. 6 swings his sword diagonally down from right to left. I step to the left and parry his sword before he can put significant strength behind the swing. Before I can step forward, he jumps back to the starting distance.

“You’re fast for a kid, but you’re too small to fight with the adults” number 6 gloats at me with a shit eating grin.

He leaps forward again, this time cracking the ground beneath his feet. He must’ve been holding back with his first attack. With the speed I’m capping myself at I can’t completely dodge. Instead, I gamble, number 6 thinks I’m fast but weak, so I step forward and parry his sword near the hilt. The impact knocks him off balance and leaves his blade up in the air. I turn my hips to lead with my right leg and land a kick to his stomach, just below his ribs.

“HUrgh” he groans.

Number 6 flies backwards about two meters before landing on the ground and rolling a little further. It wasn’t a sword strike so the ref might not call it a telling blow.

“Argh…not done..yet” he moans and pulls himself up to a crouch with ragged breaths. He presses his sword into the ground for the final push back onto his feet, but the sword snaps near the hilt and he collapses face down on the ground.

“WINNER NUMBER 40”

I return to the spectating area where I’ve waited between all my matches, but this time people are staring at me. I look older than 11, and the long hair mixed with the gruff outfit makes me look even older, but manhandling someone twice your size attracts attention.

Should I throw the final? People could think last match was pure luck. No, I don’t want to. The whole point of calling myself Sio, wearing rags and growing my hair out with magic is so that I can do things I can’t do as Alfred. I’m winning the final.

I couldn’t have thrown the final if I wanted to, my opponent was trembling on the starting mark and forfeited as soon as the announcer yelled “BEGIN.”

“WINNER NUMBER 40”

The announcer walks up to me with a sheathed sword and knife as well as a bag of coins.

“Number 40 what’s your name?” she asks.

“Sio ma’am” I reply.

“Congratulations on winning the competition Sio, these are your winnings, a sword and knife, they were both donated by the Radit smith family. They’re new to this area, but the quality is guaranteed. Oh, and your silver coin, I’ll trade that for the practice sword you’ve been using” she explains and offers me a trade.

I hand her the practice sword and take my coin along with my winnings.

“Thanks very much, I had a lot of fun” I say with a childish smile.

It’s not a lie, noble kids don’t get to go out and enjoy boyish fun like this. Plus, I got a cool new sword, and the only casualty was number 6’s practice sword.

“You pack a punch for your size, Andre err number 6, won’t shut up about the boot print on his stomach” she says with a chuckle.

“I landed that kick square, but it should heal fine..” I reply apologetically while scratching my cheek.

“Aha don’t misunderstand kid, everyone here thought he was a jerk for entering a competition we have for the younger ones to compete. We’re happy to see you win that sword. Take care of it, alright?” she says like she’s talking to a little brother.

“Yes, I will. Thanks again” I reply with a light bow.

With my mission in the fortress town complete, and a shiny black handled sword at my hip, I make my way back into the mountains to where I left my house. I unsheathe the new blade and knife before starting to run a my magic into the two. The sword feels especially nice in my hand, it’s light, a length I’m comfortable with and the grip is textured. The knife is short and curved up slightly, perfect for field dressing an animal.

After inspecting the spoils of my effort, I fly down the rocky coastline south of the beach guarded by the fortress town. I placed traps here a few days and am hoping to find some seafood for my celebratory meal. The traps in the shallowest water are empty short of one unlucky fish that doesn’t look appetizing, so I let him go. A few meters deeper is my last trap, and fortune must be smiling on me today.

Not one, but two lobsters. I was so excited I exhaled most of my oxygen and had to resurface for air before I could haul the trap in. Lobsters exist in my new world. In my past life, lobster had an interesting history, they were a poor man’s food and often canned. It wasn’t until they could be transported further and wealthy travelers got a taste for it that it became a luxury food.

Before returning to the mountain I place each of the traps into the deeper water where the lobsters were caught.

They’ll never spoil in storage, and I want as many lobsters as I can get.

That night’s feast included lobster cooked in a compound garlic butter, a thick venison steak and a baked potato.

The freer I get the more I’m able to find things I enjoy. Surf and turf in a new world, sounds like a shitty anime title, but it’s my life.