These Demons Do it for Free

“What about you? Isn’t this a bit excessive?”

After the exchange of questions between Costin and me at the mana concentrator, Ray trotted up as Costin became absorbed in the prestigious serum left by Cordelia.
In Ray's concerned voice, I shook my head gracefully.

“You know it’s fine.”
“Well, I know, but still…”@@novelbin@@

Ray, scratching her cheek and mumbling, carried the scent of someone embarrassed.

“More importantly, what’s Lief doing?”
“Me?”

Lief had sneakily taken the mana concentrator we were using and was fiddling with it here and there.

Was it mere curiosity?
Or perhaps just playful mischief to try infusing mana herself?

Neither of those.

Lief was handling the mana concentrator with remarkable skill, as if she had already worked with it before, pulling levers and blowing in mana, producing sounds of clinking and clattering as the concentrator began to resonate.
As the machine whirred, the concentrator rattled.

Then, a crystalline substance emerged from the outlet beneath the concentrator where Lief had been supporting her hands.

“What’s that?”
“The concentrator doesn’t just gather mana. It’s somewhat like creating mana crystals.”

The mana crystals produced in this manner would later be processed into potions through various catalysts and reagents.

“Leave that for now. I’ll handle it later. After all, you both lack the tools and reagents to process this.”

Just then, Costin, having finished getting a rough idea about the prestigious serum, spoke up.

“Roman-san.”

Suddenly, he addressed me by my full name?
“Yes?”
“Are you perhaps… a descendant of the first expedition team?”
“Me?”