Kays Translations

Chapter 22: Ritual Magic and the Thirteen Sacred Tools 

The mass-produced staff, emblematic of a philosophy completely opposite to mine, are crafted using the Handa manufacturing method. This approach has gradually expanded its production lines, increasing its reach step by step.

It’s been less than six months since the production of general-use magic staff began, and currently, only about 100 staff are produced per day. At this rate, it would take roughly 80 years to distribute staff to all residents in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

However, every time a new production line is added, daily production increases by about 10 units. Craftsmen are steadily improving their skills, and efficiency in production is advancing.

With this acceleration in production, it’s not unreasonable to expect that magic staff will spread throughout all of Japan, not just Tokyo, in the near future.

Tokyo has managed to establish a good cycle of recovery.

More accurately, a strong recovery cycle has been successfully built around the witches’ assemblies.

According to somewhat questionable information from the Dragon Witch, who travels all over the country, Tokyo—governed by the witches’ assembly—is reportedly the largest and most advanced recovery hub among all surviving communities.

At the start of this year, the Eye Witch conducted a statistical survey that revealed Tokyo’s current population is approximately 2.8 million. Including the entire metropolitan area, the population rises to 3.5–4 million—roughly 20% of its peak.

After the Gremlin Disaster, manpower was critically lacking. Daily life, which had depended on the vast influx of supplies brought in from outside the city, collapsed as logistics ground to a halt.

The citizens managed to scrape by, depleting their reserves while laboring tirelessly to cultivate fields (without machinery!) and push forward with land reclamation. The docks were lined with desperate fishermen, and even sparrows and pigeons became precious food sources. Food was also salvaged from nearby cities that had been decimated by monsters.

Despite these efforts, nutrition was insufficient, and Tokyo’s residents gradually grew thinner.

With the water supply cut off, people had to walk long distances daily to fetch water from rivers. Obtaining fuel by dismantling abandoned houses for wood was also time-consuming and labor-intensive. Someone always had to watch over the fires (a fire in the city center would be catastrophic—there were no fire trucks!), and whenever monsters appeared, everything would be abandoned for a desperate battle until a witch or wizard arrived.

Every citizen fought tooth and nail just to survive each day, leaving no energy for recovery efforts or planning for the future.

I remember the hardships of those early days as well. Most of each day was spent gathering food or fuel, and even then, it was never enough. Even in the countryside, where resources were comparatively abundant, there was an underlying sense of insecurity.

Yet, amid those grueling days when people constantly succumbed to exhaustion and death, a few, led by the Vampire Wizard, managed to squeeze out the resources to invest in the future. This deserves great praise.

The faint hope for the future bore fruit when Ōhinata-sensei succeeded in performing a bypass incantation for fertility magic.

Thanks to fertility magic, harvests in cultivated fields more than doubled, freeing up laborers previously tied to farming.

With this newfound workforce, simple water systems were installed.

Once water systems were established, people no longer had to spend hours fetching water, freeing even more hands for other tasks.

This marked an explosion in the number of people who could work not just to survive each day but to build for the future.

As a result, it became possible to establish institutions like universities—unnecessary for immediate survival—and construct more and more magic staff production workshops, assigning craftsmen and apprentices to them.

The initial spark of the fertility magic bypass incantation set off a chain reaction, creating a positive cycle of progress.

That said, all the stories I’ve heard about this are second hand—mostly from the Blue Witch and Ōhinata-sensei. I wasn’t personally in the midst of the dramatic recovery; I was only lending a hand occasionally from my safe and peaceful countryside. How much of what I heard is entirely accurate, I don’t know.

The giant gremlin that arrived at my doorstep today is also a product of this positive cycle.

Previously, when the Blue Witch defeated a giant monster, she created a massive glacier that engulfed an entire town. The glacier could only be melted with magic fire.

So, the Witch of the Everlasting Fire had been painstakingly chipping away at the glacier daily. But as more ordinary people began learning fire magic and the general-use magic staves became widespread, the thawing process sped up.

Initially, it was estimated that the process would take three years. But thanks to these developments, it was completed in two and a half years.

Amazing.

Still, I can’t help but wonder about the Blue Witch—how does someone create a glacier so massive that it takes two and a half years to melt? Is she some kind of bug in the world’s system?

Even after the glacier was thawed, logistical issues like relocating residents remained. There was also some drama over the corpse of the giant monster.

First, the Dragon Witch took all the monster meat.

Most monster meat isn’t suitable for human consumption—it makes people sick. But witches and wizards can eat it without issue, so the Dragon Witch, having acquired a taste for it, volunteered to dispose of the meat. Anything she couldn’t eat raw, she reportedly smoked in one go by breathing fire.

It’s frustrating but ultimately fine. Letting that much meat rot would have quickly turned it into a breeding ground for disease. At least she was useful for once.

However, the other parts of the monster caused disputes.

The monster’s tough scales, which couldn’t be scratched by ordinary magic, became brittle after being thawed but were still highly valuable. Its durable bones, which supported its massive body, were also precious resources. Additionally, the two massive gremlins, 80mm in diameter, extracted from its tail and chest were priceless.

The residents of Hamura City, where the monster was slain, and their overseer, the Witch of Tobacco, claimed ownership. The Blue Witch expressed interest as well. Meanwhile, the Witch of Everlasting Fire and the Witch of Hachiōji, who risked their lives to hold the monster back, also demanded a share. Even the Witch of Setagaya, who fled midway through the battle, shamelessly joined the squabble, plunging the situation into chaos.

Ultimately, the mediator, the “Eyeball Witch,” negotiated an agreement where everyone would share the spoils fairly.

Of course, the definition of “fair” led to yet another argument (Should it be based on contribution? How do you even measure contribution? Or should it be divided equally by the number of witches?), and it got to the point where the “Blue Witch” nearly drew her staff, Kyanos. Absolutely terrifying. No way would I ever want to attend such a meeting—I’d need ten stomachs, and they’d all be ruined from the stress.

Although the Blue Witch accidentally froze an entire town in her aftermath, killing dozens of people who hadn’t been able to evacuate in time, she was still the one who ultimately defeated the monster. Considering that without her actions, the death toll could have easily risen to tens of thousands, she was awarded two massive Gremlins as her share.

One of those Gremlins was donated on a whim to Tokyo Magic University at the request of Ohinata-sensei, and it became an ideal subject for joint research between the Department of monsters and the Department of Gremlin Engineering.

And as for the other? Well, that ended up in my possession.

I placed the massive Gremlin on the pedestal in my home workshop and marvelled at its size.

“Wow… This thing’s huge—80mm, right? It’s not as powerful as a mana stone, but it’s stunning. I love it.”

“You like it? Should we put off the board game for another day?”

“Huh? Oh, sure. But are you sure I can have this? It was supposed to be your share, right?”

“I wouldn’t use it anyway. I already have Kyanos. I just kept it because I figured you’d want it.”

“You’re kidding me! Let’s be best friends forever! Friendship is the best!”

“You’re so transparent…”

The Blue Witch looked exasperated, but I was completely sincere.

I never thought I’d understand the value of friendship, let alone have one, but now that I do, it’s not bad at all. Or wait, is it different? This indescribable happiness—beyond just obtaining something valuable—might not come from friendship itself but from the fact that it’s her.

Not that I’d know. I only have one friend.

After leaving behind a two-player board game she had dug out from some ruins, the Blue Witch left. That gave me the chance to focus entirely on the massive Gremlin.

The largest Gremlins discovered before this one were the 28mm-class Gremlins found at power plants.

In contrast, this one was 80mm, shattering all previous records.

Unprocessed Gremlins from magical beasts are typically spherical and have a distinct colour. This one’s unique bluish-white hue resembled ice, but when the light hit it differently, it looked like blue fire.

Hmm… It’s gorgeous. I could polish it and display it as a centrepiece. It’d look amazing next to Octa meteorite, the divine artifact of my staff workshop.

But then again, with a Gremlin this large, I could finally attempt techniques and processes I couldn’t before due to size limitations.

What should I do? Such a luxurious dilemma.

I spent the whole night staring at the massive Gremlin, lost in thought, and eventually decided to use it for processing experiments.

As tempting as it was to keep it as a decorative piece, Tokyo Magic University was using its Gremlin for research, and I got nervous that I’d fall behind technologically if I spent too much time on hobbies. Professor Handa’s research team is no joke—they’ll leap ahead the moment you let your guard down.

If both massive Gremlins were mine, I could have kept one for display and used the other for experiments. But oh well, can’t be helped.

I decided to dedicate the massive Gremlin to advancing research into Möbius processing.

Möbius processing is a deep, fascinating subject. This Gremlin is worth using, and some experiments can only be conducted with a Gremlin of this size.

One of the most intriguing aspects is how the behavior of spells changes depending on the Gremlin used.

This phenomenon can be categorized as follows:

① Using a regular-shaped Gremlin for magic:

• Different people using the same Gremlin simultaneously: Only one spell activates; the rest fizzle out.
• Twins using the same Gremlin simultaneously: Both spells activate, but abnormal vibrations occur.

② Using a Möbius-loop-shaped Gremlin for magic:

• Different people using the same Gremlin simultaneously: Both spells activate simultaneously.
• Twins using the same Gremlin simultaneously: Both spells activate simultaneously.

In short, the Möbius loop is a magically stable shape that can uniquely process two spells simultaneously. While it doesn’t amplify or weaken magic, it outputs spells at a consistent 1.00x power.

But there’s more to the theory.

When twins use the same Möbius-loop Gremlin to cast the same spell simultaneously, something remarkable happens: the cost of magic energy is divided equally between them.

Take the core freezing spell, Freeze Valaar, as an example. When twins held the Möbius-loop Gremlin and cast the spell simultaneously, only one freezing ray was emitted. Its power and energy consumption matched a single instance of the spell.

However, the magic energy required was split between the twins, each expending only half the energy.

The same experiment was conducted with triplets, and in that case, the energy consumption was divided into thirds.

Experiments with quadruplets or more haven’t been conducted due to a lack of suitable subjects, but the results from twins and triplets alone provide ample insight for theoretical analysis.

In theory, with 100 siblings, the magic energy cost could be split 100 ways.

This method allows even highly demanding spells—ones so energy-intensive that they’re effectively exclusive to witches and sorcerers—to be cast collaboratively, sharing the energy burden and making them accessible.

A real pair of twins had successfully cast a spell they wouldn’t have been able to activate individually by using what Ōhinata-sensei dubbed “choral spellcasting.”

It’s incredibly, incredibly fascinating.
Casting magic by harmonizing your voices and pooling your strength! That’s so cool! And it’s practical, too!

However, the sticking point is achieving a perfect match in voice quality.
With this limitation, “choral spellcasting” is essentially restricted to twins, triplets, or exceptions like the Witch of Hell.

Still, it’s an amazing feat. But personally, I’d love to see a hundred people joining together in a grand chorus to cast a massive spell.
That’s why I thought about removing the limitations of choral spellcasting by using giant gremlins.

Can’t cast “choral” spells with unrelated people?
Can’t use “choral” spells unless you’re twins?
Then why not turn the gremlins themselves into twins?

I remembered something the Blue Witch once said: All gremlins are descended from a single parent mana stone.
If they’re part of a parent-child relationship, shouldn’t there also be a way to create sibling relationships?

Creating twin gremlins is simple.
Carve multiple identical Möbius rings from a single, massive gremlin.
If they’re cut from the same block and shaped identically, they should count as twins.

Admittedly, I had no real evidence that this twin gremlin processing would work.
It could easily fail, but I had a feeling it might just work. And that’s why I decided to experiment.
I’m not a professor, so I can’t outline a theoretical basis for it.
But as the world’s most experienced magic staff craftsman when it comes to working with gremlins, I trusted my instincts. It’s like knowing exactly which piece fits where in a mechanism—it just felt right.

I spent nearly a month crafting twelve perfectly identical Möbius rings, each carved from the 80mm gremlin. I also created one larger ring for comparison experiments.
To achieve 100% shape consistency, I worked painstakingly slowly, more cautiously than a snail, taking an absurd amount of time. I focused so intensely that I thought my eyes might start bleeding. At one point, I even got a nosebleed from the extreme concentration. When I came to, my jaw and lap were covered in blood.

Thanks to this effort, I didn’t make a single mistake.
The precision reached the theoretical limit of what I could achieve.
If there was any margin for error, it wouldn’t exceed 1.0 microns. I’ll never be able to reach the 0.1-micron level in my lifetime, so this was truly the best I could do.
The result was exquisite—true masterpieces. Even real twins wouldn’t resemble each other this much.

After completing the twelve (+1) Möbius rings, I slept for three days straight, then woke up like a half-dead turtle, munching on hard bread while staring blankly for half a day. Once I regained my energy, I used my eyeball familiar to summon the Blue Witch.

The crafting was done. Now, it was time to test whether the gremlins would function as I’d envisioned.

When the Blue Witch arrived through the fog of uncertainty, she took one look at me at the door and asked with concern:

“Dairi, you look terrible. Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah? Probably?”

“You said you’d be focusing for a while, but you’ve been eating, haven’t you?”

“If I hadn’t eaten for a month, I’d be dead. Anyway, forget that—come on in. Help me with the experiment.”

I led the Blue Witch into my workshop, showed her the Möbius rings I’d crafted, and explained the phenomena I was expecting.
She fiddled with one of the twelve identical gremlins in her hand, tilting her head.

“So, you want me to hold one of these, you hold another, and then we’ll perform this ‘choral spellcasting’ together?”

“Exactly. But let’s call it ‘ritual magic’ instead. It sounds way cooler, don’t you think?”

“? Sure, whatever you want to call it. I understand your theory that the mana cost will be split between us if we use the ritual magic, but where will the magic emerge from? Will it come from one of the rings? Or from a point between them?”

“Uh… I didn’t think about that at all.”

I’d been so fixated on whether the twin gremlins could enable ritual magic that I hadn’t considered those finer details.
But hey, no problem—we’d find out by trying.

The Blue Witch sighed.

“This is exactly why I say you lack a sense of caution. What if it backfires? Let’s make sure to aim our gremlins in different directions when we cast.”

“Got it. Let’s do that. We’ll use ‘Freeze, Vaala’ as the spell. Ready? On Ichi, ni, san—cast right after I say the ‘n’ in ‘san,’ okay?”

The Blue Witch nodded and aimed her gremlin in a direction where it absolutely wouldn’t hit me.
I did the same, pointing mine away from her.

And then, we cast the spell.

“Ichi, ni, san! 『『Freeze, Vaala!』』”

The success of the experiment was immediately apparent.
Both the Möbius rings held by me and the Blue Witch glowed golden, yet only a single spell was cast.

However, that spell emerged not from our rings, but from the larger comparison Möbius ring hanging on the wall.

I was stunned.
From there!? That was completely unexpected!

To make matters worse, the freezing ray shot out in the direction of the Blue Witch. Reacting on instinct, I leaped in front of her and shielded her with my back.

“Woah!? C-cold! Freezing!”

The freezing ray struck me square in the chest, and I was overwhelmed by the chill.
It felt like I’d dived into a frozen bath. So cold! Freezing! Freezing to death!

As I shivered violently, rubbing my goosebump-covered skin and stomping my feet, a firm hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind, forcibly turning me to face the Blue Witch.

“What were you thinking!?”

The Blue Witch’s expression was terrifyingly intense.
S-she’s super angry!

I raised my hands and took a step back.

“I-it’s not like I could’ve predicted that the magic would come from that ring! Probably, according to the twin theory, that bigger Möbius ring acted like the eldest sibling in a set of thirteen, and the magic energy from the smaller twelve rings converged onto the eldest…”

I tried to explain my hypothesis and prove my innocence, but the Blue Witch interrupted me, yelling furiously like an erupting volcano.

“That’s not the issue! Why did you shield me? What if you’d died? Are you trying to get yourself killed, you idiot!?”

“No, no, it’s not like I consciously meant to shield you! Honestly, not even a little bit! I just got startled when the freezing beam came flying, and my body moved on its own!”

Panicked, I desperately explained myself.

The Blue Witch’s anger suddenly deflated.

“…You shielded me on reflex? Without even thinking?”

“Yeah. Sorry about that!”

I really messed up.
The Blue Witch has a natural resistance to cold, so if the ray had hit her, she’d have been fine.

When I apologized, the Blue Witch fell silent. She stopped moving entirely, so I waved my hand in front of her mask, but there was no response.

“She… she’s dead…!”

“I’M ALIVE. BUT I’M GOING HOME NOW.”

“Wait, what about the rest of the experiment?”

“Tomorrow.”

When she finally moved, the Blue Witch stiffly spoke and awkwardly left.
From the gap between her mask and her hair, I caught a glimpse of her ears—they were red.

Could she have caught a cold…?
Nah, even I’m not that dense.

I get it.
The Blue Witch was embarrassed! Her ears were bright red from embarrassment!

But why?
What was there to be embarrassed about? I have no idea.

Well, she’s just as eccentric as I am, so there must’ve been something that made her feel that way. Everyone has days like that.

In any case, thanks to the Blue Witch’s cooperation, I confirmed the success of the experiment.
Now, all that’s left is to coat the 12+1 Möbius rings in resin to protect them from scratches and send them to Ōhinata-sensei.

And then, I’ll brag.

“How about that? Your university could never replicate the manufacturing of these twin gremlins.
I’ll keep making artifacts no ordinary person could ever create!”

Wahahahaha!

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter