Short Story: Creative Urges
Quite a long time had passed since I was transported to the new world. I’d gotten used to life here, even down to the odd inconveniences that had made me miss the modern culture of my old world.
A large part of that was because I had my trusty smartphone by my side, which let me watch television or listen to the radio whenever I pleased. I could even read manga and novels thanks to the wonder of e-books. On top of that, I could even play games on it! Plus, I could still keep up on the current situation of my old world through news sites and such. I had already come to terms with the fact that I could never return to my old world, but still being able to retain a degree of contact with it was somehow comforting to me. I was glad that God had modified my smartphone in order to let me do these things.
Ever since I’d picked up the [Modeling] spell, I’d been eager to try making all sorts of things with it. Things like those shogi sets and bikes and stuff.
Whenever I needed reference for certain parts or designs, I could use the wonders of the internet to look up whatever it was that I wasn’t sure of. My only real complaint was that there wasn’t any plastic over in this world… But honestly, just making things was simply a fun pastime for me.
“Touya, what are you making this ti— Wow! That’s amazing!” Yumina let out a surprised voice as she peeked over my shoulder at what I was constructing. It was a pale blue glass bottle with a sailing ship inside it. Basically, it was a ship in a bottle.
Normally, to make something like this, first you would take the parts needed to construct the ship and then insert them into the bottle one piece at a time. From there, you would use long tweezers-like tools to slowly assemble the ship from outside of the bottle. It was a delicate task that pushed the bounds of human concentration and perseverance.
Yumina seemed impressed at my handiwork, but I had to admit that I had cheated at making it. In my case, I built the model ship first outside of the bottle, then used [Modeling] to open up the base of the bottle, inserted the ship, and then cast the spell once more to seal the bottle again. It was a faux ship-in-a-bottle.
I was certain that the ships in bottles that I’d sometimes seen being sold in shops for extremely cheap had been made by similar methods to mine.
Still, it seemed as though the concept of putting a ship inside a bottle like this was completely foreign to Yumina, as she praised the workmanship. Even though it was just something I had felt like making on a whim, really.
“I’d love to show it to my father. He’s rather fond of ships, you know?”
“That so? In that case, you can give it to him as a gift from me. I’m sure it’d pale in comparison to one made by an actual professional craftsman, though.”
“You’ll really give it to him? Thanks, Touya! I’m sure Father will be quite pleased with it!”
Well, if it made him happy, then that was good enough for me. When we went to visit His Majesty the very next day, in fact, he was over the moon when I gave it to him. I was glad that I was able to make people happy like this using my magic, as well as the assistance of my trusty smartphone.
Although, when the king’s younger brother, Duke Ortlinde, got wind of it, I ended up having to make another one for him, too. The duke was equally overjoyed at my gift, and that made it all worth the effort.
Seeing my creations bring joy to the people around me only made my creative urges well up even further. I wanted to make things that would surprise people or make them happy, and seeing the successful results of that only made me want to keep on creating more and more new things.
Right then, what should I make next? I thought idly to myself. Without a moment’s delay, I whipped out my smartphone and began surfing the web for more creative inspiration.
