There's Something Strange About My Water Magic ~ Before I Knew It, I Was a Slum Orphan Thrown Into the Trash Bin ~ - Episode 15: Magic Power Grass

Episode 15: Magic Power Grass

I walked quietly through the forest. I parted the grass carefully so as not to make any sound.

I was using [Presence Detection] and Water Shield. But for now, the magic pool deep in my gut wasn’t hurting.

Maybe activating it uses magic, but maintaining it doesn’t use that much?

I decided not to stop and appraise. Since it might distract me and keep me from staying alert to my surroundings.

Anyway, I want to find a place where I can safely rest.

It’d be great if I could find a place with edible wild grass, nuts, and fruit, but also a river or lake… even spring water…

Anyway, somewhere I can get a lot of water would be good.

The line from that low-rank adventurer before I escaped the dumpster, “You smell like rotten garbage,” really stuck with me. So I want to wash my hair, body, and clothes somewhere with lots of water.

I can’t tell my own smell. But I must stink pretty bad.

Maybe it’s because of the smell, but no monsters have come near me, strangely enough.

Even though I’ve made it pretty deep into the forest while staying cautious, it seems like monsters should have shown up by now…

Am I so smelly even monsters avoid me…?

I’m glad monsters don’t come near. But being smelly is still unpleasant.

I kept walking through the forest while thinking about that.

Eventually, the trees thinned out. And I came into a sunlit meadow. Somehow, the air felt different.

How should I put it… it felt denser.

There seemed to be *something* in the air of this place.

I carefully took a breath in.

No change in my body… huh? I felt movement in the magic pool deep in my gut.

What is this… something… maybe magic… seems to be flowing into the magic pool.

Maybe this place has dense mana or magical particles in the air.

So with each breath, the magical particles in the air enter my body and get stored in my magic pool.

This might be a great place I’ve found.

I walked slowly through the meadow while breathing deeply.

Then I spotted some kind of plant that caught my eye. Somehow, I felt like I needed it right now.

I appraised the plant. It said:

[Magic Power Grass: Boil gently (without letting it boil) to create a magic replenishing potion. You can also dry and turn it into pills for consumption.]

Looks like my appraisal is getting a bit more detailed.

Maybe using it frequently has improved its accuracy. Or maybe the high mana in the area boosted my reading ability…

Or maybe I’m just recalling something I heard before… I’m still suffering from memory loss.

Anyway, I’m happy to find something that can replenish magic. So I started harvesting it right away.

[Presence Detection] didn’t sense anything moving nearby.

I put down my wooden shield, re-gripped the knife in my left hand, and grabbed the Magic Power Grass with my right to start harvesting.

I kept stuffing them into my robe pockets and magic pouch.

After checking the area and harvesting most of the grass, I tried nibbling on a young tip of the plant—

It was bitter!!

A harsh grassy bitterness spread through my mouth. And I almost threw up.

But I thought, “If swallowing this bitter stuff will restore magic…”

So I rinsed my mouth and swallowed it down while tearing up.

Standing still in a clear meadow seemed dangerous. So I switched the knife to my right hand, picked up the wooden shield with my left, held it to my chest, and moved on through the meadow.

In the meadow, besides Magic Power Grass, there were other kinds of plants that caught my attention.

While appraising and harvesting, I found:

Salty Grass, Sweet Grass, and Spicy Grass.

I harvested what was growing of each and tried a young leaf tip—

There were faint salty, sweet, and spicy flavors.

Of course, all of them had the same bitterness too…

Up till now, the edible wild grasses I’d found were bitter. But they had no flavors like salt, sweet, or spice.

It’s really helpful to find flavorful ones now.

I looked around slowly, confirmed there were no more plants of interest, then left the meadow and entered the forest again.

As expected, the mana in the air seemed less.

I’ll remember this meadow and come back again.

As I was thinking that and walking through the forest, a breeze blew and brought a familiar scent.

The smell of rotting meat.

I put my knife into my pocket and took a short sword out from the magic pouch.

I pushed the wooden shield strap up to below my left elbow and gripped the sword hilt with both hands.

Then I poked at the Water Shield in front of me to check that it was still there.

After confirming it, I decided to go investigate the source of that rotten meat smell.

Original Author’s Comment:

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Thank you very much for reading my sloppy setting and clumsy writing.

Since I published this as a new work, I’ve gained more followers at a surprising pace, and received lots of ★ and ♥.

I am deeply grateful to you all.

Also, I received my very first gift.

It’s given me encouragement to keep writing.

Thank you very much to @332342 for your thoughtfulness.

I’ll continue working hard so everyone can keep enjoying this series.

Please continue to support me.

(Here’s the link if you want to support the Author: https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093085917789154.)