Not At All

“But if it only stays lit for three days, it doesn’t seem all that useful, right…?”

“Not at all! Absolutely not at all!”

Nadja clenched her fist tightly as she argued passionately.

R-really?

To me, since it just kept burning endlessly, I didn’t think it had much value…

“Look, even now in broad daylight you can clearly see how bright this Fire Muscat is! At night, it would be more than enough to use as a light source!”

“…Yeah, true. Right now we’re using branches from the Light Tree, but once we leave this village the light goes out quickly. In that case, something that stays lit for three days would be really valuable.”

In our village, we had Light Trees that, after absorbing sunlight during the day, glowed at night, so we never had trouble with light.

But Simurg-san had said this was only possible because the Sanctuary was filled with mana.

Even after hearing the explanation, I didn’t fully understand it, but apparently the Light Trees performed something like magical photosynthesis with mana and chlorophyll, so they could light up as long as they were inside the Sanctuary.

But as for the Fire Muscat, once mana was infused, it could stay lit for about three days.

As long as there was a heat-resistant container, it could serve as both a fire source and a light source for quite some time.

“Winter marches are hell. Striking cold flints again and again with frozen hands just to spark a flame is exhausting, and even then building a fire takes a lot of effort. But with this Fire Muscat, all those steps could be skipped entirely. I think that’s incredible!”

Nadja was eighteen, three years older than me.

The Tristan family was a house that fought ceaselessly, no less than the Conrad family.

With the aptitude of Sword Saint, she must have run across the battlefield many times over the past three years.

It was because of that experience that she realized the value of the Fire Muscat.

Sure enough, I had to admit, I hadn’t done much of those things myself.

The only time I had used flint was just earlier, when showing it to Ran-san.

Growing up in noble society, I hadn’t learned much about such ordinary matters.

But I see now.

Nadja must know far more than I do.

Instead of worrying on my own, I should have relied on her much earlier.

I had been too caught up in hiding things from others, and because Nadja was always out hunting, I ended up delaying talking to her.

But Nadja was my fiancée, and since I had already shown things to Aira, it wasn’t as if it was too late.

That’s right, it really wasn’t.

There was no need for me to do everything alone.

Not realizing something so obvious… I was a fool.

I smacked myself on the head.

Then, rubbing at the throbbing pain, I held out my right hand.

“Nadja, if it’s okay with you, I’d like you to help me think about how to use the Element Fruits.”

“Ah, leave it to me!”