The Corrupted Daily Life of an Alchemist Who Returned on His Own - Episode 6: Shiranami

Episode 6: Shiranami

(Note: Special for this chapter, dialogues from the telephone are in this bracket: ‘……’ .)

Shiranami Aqua Holdings.

When you hear that name, everyone would unanimously say it’s the company responsible for the largest water infrastructure on the premises.

Water supply and sewage, disaster response, energy utilization.

A traditional company continuing from the Taisho era, with various national-level project achievements.

In water quality sensors for which they’ve acquired patents, they’re No.1 in the industry.

Their high-precision water purification is also said to be excellent.

Not just limited to domestic work, they’ve partnered with 40 foreign countries and even provided technology.

The group is composed of about 10,000 personnel, all said to be excellent.

A company that proudly holds the No.1 spot as the workplace most desirable among famous university and graduate school graduates.

So that’s the true identity of the uptight old man who committed the rare act of glaring at this brat version of me.

“Hmph.”

Leaning on my elbow, lazily resting my chin, I absentmindedly stared at the slightly dirty monitor.

Now then, I’ve more or less looked into what I wanted to research.

I opened the dimensional gate and arrived here. But roughly speaking, no major changes in the past have occurred.

Smartphones, which are becoming common by 2022.

Windows, still has a long way to go.

It’s an era where you still have to research like this in the library.

Internally, it feels nostalgic.

I shift my gaze from the monitor and look around.

Adults, children, people of various ages are earnestly choosing and borrowing books.

I was a bit surprised at first.

But soon I remembered.

“That this is Earth.”

Over there, the gap between rich and poor is severe. Studying… let alone libraries, are not places children go.

Only high-ranking officials and nobles—basically people at the top of the pyramid—are allowed in.

The only difference is that over there, it’s a treasure trove of knowledge like grimoires. So the number of guards and level of importance is completely different.

I’ve heard from the guards before.

“Please, just for one hour, let my son into the library.”

In return, well, they offered their bodies.

You hear that kind of thing anywhere.

Maybe that’s part of why being a guard was a popular profession.

Watching like this, I thought:

Even if you’re a guard, there’s nothing bad about being surrounded by women.

The more there are, the more value you have as a man. And as a male, there’s no greater joy.

“I can’t exactly leave without borrowing anything.”

And as I stood up—

“Ugh──!”

Suddenly, dizziness hits me.

I barely held back a voice. But I didn’t have enough strength and ended up banging my forehead on the desk.

Then a few minutes passed.

“Haa… haa…”

As I covered my eyes to stop the dizziness, memories from the past surfaced in my head.

ーーMom, what’s Shiranami?

ーーShiranami? What is it, what’s wrong?

ーーWell, I heard a processing plant of a place called Shiranami exploded.

ーーOh, really?”

ーーIt’s still summer, but things can still explode, huh.

ーーYeah. Today’s August 24th, huh.

“Um…”

“…!”

“Um~ are you okay?”

Looking up, an old man who seemed to be a staff member was looking down at me.

“Ah, sorry. I might be a bit dehydrated or dizzy.”

“Ahh. Are you okay? There’s a water dispenser over there. So go ahead and drink.”

“Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s fine. It’s good to see a student so dedicated to studying this early. Good luck!”

“Ah! Haha, thank you.”

As I bowed to the old man and watched him leave, I calmed down a bit.

Shiranami… yeah, that’s right.

I’m starting to remember.

I looked up at a nearby calendar.

“Late in the month, huh.”

In about three weeks—or even sooner—that “thing” will happen.

“Please, hold out for me.”

I sat in the chair again and let what little magic power I had flow to my head.

I tried this yesterday until I fell asleep. And even though I crossed dimensions, it seems I can now at least accumulate this small amount of magic power.

──However, like muscles, it’s been reset.

That said—

“Something like this, to an alchemist like me, is just a bonus.”

I also had some Elixirs. And when I checked, a few potions and my foundational grimoire were left behind.

With a grimoire, you can do instant mental storage for spell formations. Which helps a lot—but even without it, I can still manage.

However, that’s only possible once I boost my magic capacity with Elixirs and gain control over my mana.

In other words, I once gained the strongest body. But now I’m back to a reset state.

Even if it was “strongest,” you can’t just start training with absurd weights from the start.

The potential may be maxed out.

But muscle training needs to start from zero.

Well, that’s how it is.

*

“Whew──”

After circulating magic in my head for about ten minutes.

I managed to recall my memories to a decent degree.

This should be fine now.

I stood from the chair and began tidying up my pretend study tools. Just in case I forgot anything, I borrowed a few history books and left the library.

“Man, it really was like this back in the day.”

Around the station, you still see people young and old making phone calls by holding them to their ears.

“Now then, where was it again?”

I went to the public phone near the station and dialed the number I got yesterday.

‘Hello?’

“It’s me.”

‘Ah, Izaki-kun? What’s up?’

“Sorry to call so soon, right after yesterday.”

‘No no! It’s totally fine! Did something happen?’

“Is your mom home right now?”

‘Uh? Yeah…’

“I have something a bit important to talk about. Can you put her on?”

‘R-right! Just a moment!’

Soon, the phone was handed over.

‘Oh, hello.’

“Hello, Saki-san’s mother. First, thank you for yesterday.”

‘It’s nothing. It’s not a big deal for our household. So, I heard from my daughter you have something important to discuss?’

Her tone changed a little. As expected.

“Just to make it clear upfront, I didn’t call to ask for charity or favors.”

‘…I see.’

“This time, I’m proposing a transaction.”

‘Oh my, you don’t seem to know our household, do you?’

“Haha, I do, actually. Shiranami Holdings, right?”

‘Yes. Then this will be quick.’

“That’s why I said it’s a transaction.”

‘………’

“Is silence okay to take as agreement?”

‘You seem quite different from the impression I had.’

“Well, that happens with everyone, I think.”

‘True. Let’s leave that aside for now.’

“May I continue?”

‘I’ll listen, okay? That doesn’t mean I’ve agreed to anything.’

“Of course.”

After the call, I once again headed to that house.

When I checked my wallet, the charity money I received yesterday had vanished because of that phone call.

“I’ll make her reimburse me. A thousand times over.”