Chapter 5 – Single Aristocrat Does Not Change

　–Twenty years have passed since then.

　I, Zirc Louren, am now 28 years old. Of course, I never got married.

　Currently, I’ve already left the Louren family mansion and am now living in the Royal Capital.

　Having obtained my desired qualification as a magic tool specialist, I built a workshop in the Royal Capital and made a living from my self-developed magic tools.

　Greeted by the refreshing morning, I get ready and quickly move to the living room. 

　From the regriferator, I take out ham, cheese and lettuce and swiftly cut them up. 

　Arranging these ingredients on bread that I had bought yesterday, I set it in the sandwich maker I had made myself. 

　Waiting for the sandwich to be done, I clean up the kitchen and return the leftovers to the fridge. 

“……After all, I’d still like it a bit smaller.” 

　The first plans for a magic tool that I drew up when I was eight years old. 

　Borrowing the help of my parents, I was able to recreate it after repeated improvements. 

　In this world, except in some extremely cold regions, the only methods of preserving food are drying, salting, or temporary freezing by ice magicians using ice magic stones.

　However, with the invention of the refrigerator, although somewhat expensive, anyone could easily store food by refrigeration, and refrigerators became widespread in households.

　Due to the invention of the refrigerator as an entirely new method of keeping food, the Louren family has become very well off and I receive a good amount of money to my account on a regular basis.

　However, this refrigerator that my parents and I have developed through gradual improvement is slightly larger than the one in my previous life.

　Though only by a few centimetres, knowing how compact the original one is, from my point of view, I could only say that it’s too big. 

　Especially when kitchen space is limited, the presence of the refrigerator stands out even more. 

　And the kitchen in my apartment is quite spacious.

　So if it feels that way even in my place, it must feel that much more cramped in an average house.

“……This is also another task.”

　However, I can’t get too hung up on one thing.

　In these past twenty years I’ve developed not only refrigerators, but also magic stoves, hair dryers, fans, and many other things.

　Despite this, there are still many things that are missing in order for me to lead a comfortable life.

　To get them done, I can’t just stay stuck on one magic tool forever. 

　While I was thinking about this, the sandwich maker made a sound to inform me that the food was ready.

　I’d conveniently just finished cleaning up the cooking utensils, so I take out the sandwich and cut it in half with a knife. 

　A fragrant smell wafts out from the browned bread, and peeking out from between the two halves is melted cheese, cooked ham and soft lettuce. 

　When I picked up the slightly hot bread and brought it to my mouth, the crunch of the bread echoed through the air. From there, rich melted cheese intertwines with the salty ham, and this strong flavour is nicely absorbed by the lettuce and bread, making it milder. 

　Since the sandwich maker is a personal creation, I haven’t put it up for sale, but I might just sell it too. 

“Even if I do say so myself, I’ve made a good magic tool.”

　◆

　After finishing breakfast, I leave my apartment and head for my workplace.

　My workshop is located in the central district of the Royal Capital, so it’s a bit far from my apartment in the northern district.

　Though I say that, it’s not more than a fifteen minute walk away. Similar to the taxis in my previous life, there are horse-drawn carriage services, but in the busy mornings, using it doesn’t save much time, so I’m alright with going on foot. 

　It’s only starting to become spring and the morning air is still a little chilly.

　But I like this light, cool air. Breathing in, I feel as though even the inside of my head is refreshed. 

　I walk through the cobblestone-paved streets as usual.

　As I approach the central district, quiet residential areas turn into a bustling shopping street.

　In addition to stores, various facilities are concentrated in the middle district, so naturally, there start to be more people on the roads. 

　Walking along the streets are not only humans, but also various other species such as beastmen, elves, dwarves, and lizardmen.

　The presence of other species surprised me at first, but after living here for more than twenty years, I had become accustomed. They may look different from us humans, but they have the same emotions and can communicate with us.

　There have been many times when their unique magic and skills contributed, and in this world where various species are intermingled, we can coexist well. 

　As I proceed down the street, there are more and more people, and it becomes more lively with food stalls, stores and the like. 

“Welcome! How ’bout some fatty red beef?”

“Freshly caught this morning, elephant tuna! You can steam or grill it! Today’s special, eight coppers for one portion!”

　Shouts go up all over the place as people tried to sell the ingredients they had in stock.

　Sustaining those ingredients were refrigerators. 

　My refrigerator is not only for home use, the large scale versions are being used as commercial refrigerators. 

　Thanks to this, the supply of food has been flourishing in the Royal Capital and other cities in recent years.

　It’s only been in recent decades that fresh meat and fish can be bought in Royal Capital at such prices.

　An abundant diet is indispensible for an elegant single’s life.

　I’m so glad I got to eat fresh meat and fish before I grew up.

　Even though from a young age I was hindered by my younger sister and brother, my study of magic tools has borne fruit. 

　Our Zirc workshop was located close to a residential area in the central district, just past the shopping area.

　A private three story brick house. Surrounded by a fence with a beautiful lawn growing.

　The central district was chosen after considering the supply of purchased materials and delivery of goods, but it’s also where we usually do development. 

　Not wanting to set up in a part of the central district that was too noisy, we chose a quiet place with as few people as possible around. 

　To enter the workshop, you’d have to pass through a grand entryway, and extending behind is the workshop. 

　There are many rooms on the second and third floors, but most of them are pretty much buried in magic tools and materials, so you could say that the actual work is more or less only done on the first floor. 

“Good morning, Mr. Zirc.”

　A young man with blond hair and blue eyes called out to me as I entered the workshop.

　This guy is Tristan. An employee of the Zirc workshop and my subordinate.

“Ah, morning.”

“Are you be in a bad mood today?”

　Tristan asked suddenly as soon as I returned his greeting.

　I’d thought I answered as usual, but I wonder if I look displeased right now.

“No, not really.”

“It would be a shame for you to look so irritated, wouldn’t it? You’re good looking, Mr. Zirc, so you should smile more. Then you’ll be irresistible.”

“I don’t need to be irresistible to women. Mind your own business.”

“Mr. Zirc is mature, aren’t you? If I were Mr. Zirc, I would be playing around with girls.”

　His negatives are that he talks too much about useless things and his head is full of nonsense. 

　I don’t understand what’s so fun about playing with a bunch of women.

“Rather than that, have you finished processing the ice magic stones yet?”

　Since it seemed like the trivial chat would continue, I forced the conversation to return to work. 

　With that, though for a moment Tristan looked bored, he brought the magic stones to my table.

“I’ve done it.”

　I check Tristan’s processed magic stones one by one.

　Magic stones, which are the core of demonic beasts, cannot be used as is.

　They need to be cut to a size that will be easy to use in magic tools, and the unevenness of the magic power needs to be smoothed out.

　If this is not done, when used in magic tools, irregularities in performance will end up appearing.

　Tristan is tasked with these chores.

“No problem. Next, I want you to process the materials here.”

“There’s a lot today, huh.”

　After I examined each of the processed magic stones, I took out the next material I wanted to use from my desk drawer and handed it to Tristan.

　Though surprised by the sheer amount of materials, Tristan returned to his own desk. 

“Alright, shall I work on magic tools today?” 

　Soon before long, summer will come. Now that the refrigerator project has been taken care of, maybe it’s time to start working on the air conditioner. 

　Even though the heat is not as tough as in my previous life, there are still days when I find it too hot to only be able to use a fan.

　With the processed ice magic stones in hand, today, I again work on making magic tools.