I Wanted to Use Magic, So I Trained My Magical Power. I Wanted to Eat Meat, So I Went Hunting. And Then, Before I Knew It, I Had Become the Strongest... - Episode 4: The eldest son is supposed to get conceited

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Episode 4: The eldest son is supposed to get conceited

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Recently, mornings and evenings have become more comfortable. Looks like summer is ending soon.

As usual, I went to collect firewood and returned home.

“Oh, Nois. Welcome back.”

“Shurama-neesan!? Are you back home after a divorce?”

“Where did you learn such a word!?”

“Ouch.”

I got bonked on the head. It was just a little joke.

“Nois. Don’t say silly things. After you put down the firewood, there’s Tetemis on the table, so eat up.”

“Yeees.”

It’s the Tetemis I picked, though.

When I sat on the chair, Maruda came beside me. Like a koi being fed, he was opening his mouth repeatedly.

Looks like the Tetemis is his aim. What a cute one.

The Tetemis was probably chilled with well water. It was quite cold.

I peeled it and fed it to Maruda.

Mother and sister were talking about something while cooking.

I casually listened to their conversation. It seems the village chief and his wife are good people. There’s no daughter-in-law bullying, and she’s living happily.

Thanks to that, the couple has a very good relationship. And they seemed to be bragging about how close they are.

And apparently, Shurama-neesan is pregnant. That’s a happy thing.

“Ouch!?”

Maruda bit my finger that was holding the Tetemis.

“What are you doing?”

“I was giving Maruda Tetemis and got bitten.”

“What’s that, you silly boy.”

Maruda, who bit my finger, looked up at me as if asking, “What happened?”

He’s only a 3-year-old child, so I can’t get mad at him…….

“Listen, my finger isn’t food. So don’t bite it, okay?”

“?”

Don’t make that confused face!

—

The season turned into fruitful autumn. And farmers are busy harvesting wheat.

Our family also has a small field where we grow wheat.

Tending the fields is the women’s job. But just for this day, even the men take a break from blacksmithing and work hard on harvesting.

I also help by bundling and carrying the harvested wheat.

Personally, I want to eat rice. But even being able to eat as much wheat as I want is something to be thankful for.

In this world, there are many people who can’t get enough food.

I need to think that I’m living in a blessed environment, or I’ll be punished.

The day after harvesting the wheat, I went deep into the forest.

The blessings of autumn aren’t just wheat. There are many blessings in the forest too.

I used body-enhancement magic to boost my sense of smell. I then sniffed around with a “sun sun”.

“It’s that way!”

When I ran up the slope, the thing I was looking for was there.

“Uhehehe. Smells good.”

A bump just about to come out from the soil. I gently brushed away the soil.

“Here it comes, Matsutake-sama!”

My excitement rises!

This forest is a treasure trove of matsutake mushrooms.

However, matsutake in this world aren’t luxury items like in my previous life in Japan.

Even if you go matsutake hunting and bring them back, no one pays attention. Thanks to that, I can eat as much as I want!

While humming a tune, I continued harvesting matsutake. Since they smell so good, it’s easy to find them.

“Not understanding how good this smell is — you’re wasting your life.”

Thanks to that, I get unlimited matsutake though.

I went home and grilled them on a shichirin grill.

The good smell stimulated my nose. And my stomach growled loudly.

“What are you eating?”

My third little sister, Ucica (7 years old), popped her head in.

“Matsutake.”

“Oh, just some trash-take.”

Yes, in this world, they call Matsutake-sama “trash-take.”

Don’t say such blasphemous things!

Ucica-neesan lost interest and went off somewhere.

Not understanding how tasty this is… how sad.

“All right, it’s cooked.”

When just a little moisture came out, I popped the matsutake into my mouth.

“Hot, hot, hot — but delicious!”

—

The day after my solo matsutake festival, I was diligently shaving wood.

What I’m trying to make is — a crossbow.

You might wonder, why a crossbow? It’s because there’s no meat! No meat!?

Meat only comes once every few days. And even then, we get only a tiny bit.

So I have no choice but to get meat myself! That’s what I thought.

“Hey, Nois. Is this okay?”

“Thanks, Kern-niisan.”

“What are you making with that?”

“Hehehe. That’s a surprise for after it’s done.”

“Well, all right. But if you make something weird, Dad will yell at you again.”

“Yessir.”

I had Kern-niisan, a blacksmith apprentice, make the crossbow’s limb (bow part) from iron.

I made the body. Since it’s a simple structure, making it wasn’t that hard.

“It’s done!”

There’s a sight for aiming. But that doesn’t mean it’s accurate.

Well, I’ll improve it as I use it.

Drawing the string on a crossbow is hard. But I have body-enhancement magic.

I can boost my strength just for the moment of drawing the string.

I set an arrow and aimed it at a tree.

I pressed the stock (the part like a gun’s butt) against my upper right chest, fixed it firmly, and aimed.

I pulled the trigger, and the arrow flew.

“…Well, this is how it goes at first.”

The arrow hit way off from where I was aiming.

Is it the crossbow’s fault, or the arrow’s?

I made twenty arrows. But even shooting them the same way, they fly all over the place.

“First, I need to reduce the inconsistency of the arrows.”

Looking closely, the arrows were slightly bent in places.

Not a noticeable bend. But still, that’s probably the issue.

I shaved the arrows to be as straight as possible.

Even then, they weren’t perfectly straight.

But I think they’re less bent than before.

Also, the arrows I made have stone arrowheads.

I asked Kern-niisan, but he didn’t make arrowheads for me. Or rather, he still can’t make them yet.

Then I asked my eldest brother, Mordan-niisan. But he flat-out drove me away.

Mordan-niisan doesn’t seem to think of us younger brothers as siblings. And he often acts like that.

The eldest son inherits the house. He is raised with care. While us second sons and younger are treated roughly.

It’s the same in every family. So it can’t be helped that the eldest gets full of himself.

So, I made the stone arrowheads myself.

This is probably another reason for the poor accuracy.