Faced with Megumin's forward invitation, Jhin had no reason to refuse. Either way, the others wouldn't be coming over for a good while, so the two of them just went on playing in the lake, and the whole matter of learning to swim was completely forgotten by them both.
Before climbing ashore, he pulled a coat out of his Storage Space and handed it to Megumin, then put one on himself and went back into the Capsule House to get dressed—yet he forgot to warn the other girls that the lake would dissolve their swimsuits.
Just as the two of them were busy and thoroughly occupied inside the room, they heard the girls' screams. Megumin had no choice but to set aside what she was doing, shot Jhin an utterly bewitching eye-roll, and dashed out of the room to fetch clothes for the others.
"Honestly, why didn't you warn us!" Kyaru's willowy brows shot up and her almond eyes went wide as she complained at her, both hands clutching tightly at the coat over her body, afraid the clothing would vanish again.
"Sorry, it all happened so suddenly, and I was in such a rush to get back and put something on that I just unconsciously forgot."
Pecorine bashfully covered her chest. "Thank goodness Jhin wasn't nearby..."
"Was Master's swimsuit dissolved too?"
"Ah... mm, he was the first to notice, then he ran back to the house to get me my clothes."
"It's a wonder you can be so calm... You didn't get seen completely bare by Jhin, did you?"
"O-of course not, ahaha..."
"That's good then. We girls really have to be careful to protect ourselves out here..."
"Ah... mm, you're right." Megumin forced herself to nod along with Kyaru as she imparted her anti-pervert techniques. She certainly couldn't admit that she hadn't merely been seen completely bare by him—she'd even taken the initiative to splash and frolic around with him in the water for quite a while.
After that whole incident, no one was in the mood to keep playing in the water any longer, and they began their daily task of searching for the spring source. Unfortunately, today too yielded not the slightest result, as though the spring source of the Great Cloudmist Falls had utterly vanished from Maple Sugar Valley.
"Ahh~ I really did like that swimsuit..." Pecorine turned the fish roasting over the campfire, her spirits a little low. "And I don't even know if I'll be able to buy the same style again."
"And whose fault is it for insisting on going to play a while in the lake where those two were staying?" Kyaru propped her face up with both hands, staring fixedly at the roasting fish, her tail giving her a couple of not-too-light, not-too-heavy smacks.
"Hehe... I just thought I'd go play with the two of them, and check on how Megumin's swimming lessons were coming along while I was at it."
"But it's strange that only that one lake dissolves clothing."
Kokkoro nodded in deep agreement. "There's no record of this in any of the books either—it really is unbelievable."
"A lake like that is practically a public enemy of all women!"
Seeing Kyaru so righteously indignant, Megumin asked her, "Then why don't you just blow that lake up?"
"Are you an idiot? What if the water from that lake contaminated the other lakes? We can't very well let other people go through the same thing."
Jhin took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of his eye. "Kyaru really is just too kind. She's truly—I'm crying my eyes out."
Megumin followed his lead. "She's truly—I'm crying my eyes out!"
"I'm telling you, haven't you two been getting more and more in sync lately..." Kyaru clenched her little fists with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Forget the lake—shouldn't you two be the ones I blow up?"
"Megumin started it!"
"Right, right, it was me— wait, you were obviously the one who said it first, and now you're shoving it onto my head? Are you even a man?"
"The one who suggested blowing up the lake was obviously you!"
"You've got to be kidding! Taste my Pitch-Black Thunder Roaring Wrath!"
"Hilarious—that's just kicking someone with your foot." Jhin twisted to the side to dodge the attack, not forgetting to taunt his opponent in the process: "You can't even land a kick. You should take a look at my move—Great Roc Spreads Its Wings!"
"That's just reaching out to grab someone—you're not any more impressive either!"
The two whom Kyaru had called so very in sync started squabbling in the blink of an eye, squaring off and gesturing through different moves, all the while ceaselessly giving them names they considered cool.
"Honestly... how dumb can you get."
"Isn't it nice that those two are like this, though?" Pecorine watched the pair with a beaming smile; had she not still needed to mind the fish on the campfire, she'd have stood up and joined in long ago.
"Indeed, this is Master and Megumin's unique way of getting along."
Kyaru gave a soft snort. Though her words were full of disdain, her tail still swayed gently amid the pair's joyful mood—she didn't actually dislike this lively, heartwarming scene.
As the campfire faded into silence, everyone, having finished their grand feast of roasted fish, returned to the Capsule House to sleep—and the next morning they were greeted by an enormous surprise.
The lake that had once dissolved clothing had vanished, and in the place where it had been there now grew a flower of emerald green with the texture of glass.
"I... I'm not seeing things, am I?"
"So this is the Spring Glaze Flower..."
More than being surprised, Jhin was concerned with another matter—namely, whether the appearance of this flower had anything to do with the clothing that had dissolved yesterday.
Don't tell me... the trigger condition for the syrup spring source is dissolving clothing? That's far too indecent, surely.
Gradually, a thick water mist began to rise all around. The lakes great and small that had been there vanished into the mist, and beside the Spring Glaze Flower a tiny spring source welled up, from which clear syrup ceaselessly gushed forth.
No one had any mind to spare for observing this miraculous sight; they took the earthen jars from Jhin's hands and rushed straight for their goal. Since they had no idea whether they'd ever get another chance to find the spring source, they used every last one of the remaining earthen jars to hold the spring syrup.
Even after all the earthen jars were used up, the spring source went on spouting syrup outward, as if it would never stop.
When a bright golden light shot through the mist, the Spring Glaze Flower instantly withered, and immediately afterward vanished together with the spring source. The sunlight scattered the water mist, and the surrounding scenery changed back to the way it had been before.
Jhin once again brought over a piece of clothing and tossed it into the lake, but this time it would not be dissolved.
"Looks like the appearance of the spring source really is connected to clothing dissolving."
"Jhin, never mind its appearance conditions—hurry back and make cola!" Megumin tugged him toward the Capsule House. Having gone so long without a sip of cola, she felt as if ants were crawling all over her body.
"Mm."
Back in the house, Jhin took out the three most crucial raw ingredients—Quaking Leaves, Fizzy Lemon, and High-Pressure Vine—then brought out the special tool he had designed specifically for making cola.
It was a large iron kettle shaped something like a wine barrel, fitted with a faucet and, on top, a round socket, set atop a circular tripod.
This iron kettle was a product he had designed and crafted using magic after analyzing the three ingredients. One needed only to put the Quaking Leaves and the cut Fizzy Lemon into the kettle, add water and screw the lid down tight, then plug the High-Pressure Vine into that socket, and you'd see the whole iron kettle vibrate faintly—wait another half hour and the initial version of the carbonated beverage would be made just like that.
Had he gone to a blacksmith's shop to have it custom-made, it likely couldn't have withstood the vibration and impact force produced by the Quaking Leaves and High-Pressure Vine. Don't let the fact that the High-Pressure Vine is only about as thick as an ordinary chopstick fool you—the impact force it releases can punch straight through a board two fingers wide.
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