The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 105: Hidden Potential

Episode 105: Hidden Potential

“Haah~ bliss, bliss.”

“Lilia, you really like baths, huh?”

“That’s right. I mean, they make you feel good, don’t they?”

“You’re right, Boss lady.”

Pii-chan was splashing around. It was swimming on the water’s surface. Apparently, Pii-chan didn’t dislike baths either. But this seemed more like enjoying swimming than liking baths.

“Hey, Fel, how long are you going to keep staring at the ceiling? Do you like the ceiling that much?”

“That’s right. Don’t you think it’s a pretty good ceiling?”

“Not really…”

I could hear Lilia’s puzzled voice. No good—I don’t have the courage to look directly at Lilia. I took care of things properly in the bathroom earlier, so I should be fine though.

“Aniki’s just tired from overusing his magic. Makes you want to look upward, right?”

“Is that how it is?”

“Yes, it is.”

Pii-chan was covering for me. Very helpful, Pii-chan. Then Lilia suddenly stuck to my arm with a *plop*. Soft, wrapped-up sensation.

“Hmm… Fel, you still seem to have plenty of magic power left… Could it be that your magic capacity has increased compared to before?”

“Huh? Really? I can’t tell at all myself.”

I’d heard from Lilia before that I had a pretty large amount of magic power. And now, for Lilia to say it had increased even more, it must be true. Is it really that easy for magic capacity to grow? I haven’t done anything special.

“Normally, even if someone’s magic capacity increases, it’s little by little so they wouldn’t notice. But with Fel’s case, it grew so much all at once that you should’ve realized it yourself.”

“It increased *that* much?”

“Yeah.”

I seriously didn’t notice. The only unusual things recently were… fusing with Pii-chan, and learning magic from Pii-chan. Thinking about it that way, I do sort of have an idea.

“Maybe it’s because of everything that happened with Pii-chan.”

“That’s possible. I’ve never heard of someone fusing with a Spirit before. Pii-chan, do you have any idea?”

“Well, even though you say fusion, I was almost out of power at the time. I don’t think that would’ve caused a huge increase in magic capacity. If anything, I’d say Aniki’s hidden potential was awakened because of the fusion.”

“Hidden potential awakening…”

Lilia muttered that and our eyes met. Small, deep green eyes. A small pink dot on her swelling chest.

“Why do you look away, I wonder?”

“N-no reason? I guess I was just a big lump of hidden potential, ahaha…”

“Yes! Aniki is a big lump of hidden potential!”

“…Suspicious.”

I felt like Lilia was glaring at me. But it must be my imagination. I didn’t see anything. Still, if my magic capacity has increased………..

“I didn’t notice at all. Is there anything good about having more magic power?”

“You’ll be able to use a lot of powerful magic.”

“Is that actually a good thing? If I use it the wrong way, people might start calling me a Demon King.”

“Demon King… True.”

Lilia started thinking deeply. I wish she would’ve at least denied it. It’s not like I have any intention of becoming a Demon King. Or maybe… does Lilia want me to become one? If that’s the case, I wouldn’t necessarily mind…

Since dinner might already be ready, we didn’t take a long bath. Once we were properly warmed up, we got out of the bath together.

“Once this whole incident settles down, I’d like to take a nice long bath.”

“Yeah, let’s do that. It seems like all the inns in this country have hinoki baths installed. So we can enjoy the scent too.”

I wrapped Lilia’s body in a towel and carefully dried her off. Then I made sure she got dressed properly. All good now. Then I dried off Pii-chan too. Since it was small, it was done quickly. Finally, I dried myself off and left the bathroom.

Unfortunately, here is where I had to say goodbye to Pii-chan for a little while. If it were a private meal, we could’ve eaten together. I returned Pii-chan to the magic space and headed to the dining hall.

The sound of footsteps echoed alone inside the ship. The empty interior felt like a steel dungeon. As I neared the dining room, I started to hear voices. In the brightly lit dining hall, everyone was already there.

“Are we late?”

“No, it’s fine. I was just about to go call you.”

“We can’t start the meal without the main character, after all.”

“Who’s the main character? Who?”

We laughed together. During that time, it seemed the meal preparations had been completed. And dishes started being brought out one after another. In the dining hall, not only us, but also the captain and crew members were present. This scene must’ve been playing out the whole time while the ship was docked at the port town of Suiren.

“If we prepare the battlefield first thing tomorrow morning, we should be able to fight on it without any issues.”

“I see. The only thing left is when the Water Spirit will show up.”

“The waves will get higher like a storm is coming, right? I’m worried if we’ll really be able to fight in such a state.”

Elise was the one with the lowest physical ability among us. She looked pale. She was probably worrying about the unsteady footing, thinking, “What if I hold everyone back?” That sounds just like serious, model-student Elise. I should bring up a lighter topic here.

“There’s no need to worry. I’m going to use the Mild Wave spell that calms the waves.”

“A spell that calms the waves……….. there’s such a specific kind of magic?”

“Apparently, it was made to counteract spells that create tsunamis.”

“Spells that create tsunamis……….…”

Ah, Elise’s face turned even paler. That was unexpected. Thinking this was bad, I looked toward Ardan and Jill—they didn’t look well either. What should I do? When I glanced at Lilia, she gave a firm nod.

“This tsunami magic is one of the wide-range annihilation spells. So, the only one who can use it is Fel. It’s not something that gets used easily.”

“Only Fel can use it.”

“That’s right. So as long as you don’t make Fel angry, you’ll be fine.”

“Don’t make Fel angry…”

Ahhh, this feels like a bad development. I get the feeling that it’s gone all quiet around us. How did it end up like this, how? Just when I was thinking I had to say something, the food preparations seemed to have finished at a perfect time. The captain, who had been sitting a bit away from us, stood up.

“Everyone, it’s time for a toast. Tomorrow will surely be a tough day. But we have a Platinum Rank adventurer among us, one of the most capable even in the Kingdom of Fortune. There’s nothing to worry about. We just need to give our best at what we can do. I’m expecting great efforts from everyone. Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Each person raised their glass and toasted. We, and the people sitting near us, also toasted the same way. Alright, looks like I somehow managed to smooth things over.

Taking advantage of the moment, I started dishing food onto Lilia’s plate. Perhaps because it was to prepare for the decisive battle tomorrow, the food was quite luxurious.

In the center of the table was a roast chicken. Next to it were smoked bacon, ham, and sausages. There was simmered fish as well. And in front of each person was a small steak.

“This steak looks like it’s beef, not pork. The meat’s flavor comes bursting out from the inside.”

“This chicken has a crispy texture on the skin and tastes really good. The meat is tender too.”

To help Lilia try a variety of foods, I gave her small portions of each. Ardan and the others, perhaps having regained their mood, started eating heartily.

“Any new information?”

“No, not really. It seems there’s not much known about the monsters that live in this area of the sea. When I heard that, I thought—well, that makes sense. No one would go out of their way to enter the sea and hunt sea monsters.”

That’s definitely true. For sea monsters, the ocean is their territory where they have the upper hand. Of course no one would try to fight monsters in a place like that.

“So that means, we have no idea what form the Water Spirit will take tomorrow.”

“If it thinks like the Fire Spirit, it’ll probably appear in the form of a giant monster. The question is what kind.”

As we tilted our heads in thought, that evening’s dinner continued on.