Kays Translations

Chapter 36: The Mountain of Magic Circles

The next morning, a sleep-deprived Isamu hurriedly made his way to the dining area, which also served as the breakfast venue.

Of course, he was carrying the recently completed Magic Stove Type I.

"Good morning! Sorry for being late..."

"Hehe, good morning, Isamu-san. It's alright, Anne just arrived too. What were you two up to so late last night?"

Nicolette teased Anne-Marie with a mischievous smile.

"Ugh! Mother! We weren't doing anything suspicious! And it wasn't just the two of us, Eto-san was there too!"

Annemarie, who took this seriously, turned red and objected.

"Oh? I never said you were doing anything suspicious, you know?"

Nicolette continued to tease.

Isamu and Selfers, who had started joining the breakfast gatherings, watched this exchange with wry smiles.

"It's been quite lively here during the time I was absent."

Selfers commented as he sipped his tea, without interrupting the conversation.

"Sorry about that. Or rather, do I have to stop doing that??"

"That's fine, it's good to have some liveliness here. Besides, Nico will probably get tired of it soon."

As Selfers anticipated, Nicolette, who had teased Anne-Marie, turned her attention to Isamu.

"So, Isamu-san, you brought the fruit of that love, right?"

"Hey, Mom!"

Not at all bored, it seemed.

"Whether it's love or not, it's definitely a result of hard work. But thanks to that, I think we've created something good."

Unfortunately, Isamu, who was not as innocent as Anne-Marie, responded while letting Nicolette's words slide off him.

"Oh, Isamu-san, you're going that far... Show it to me, can you?"

"Of course. That's why I brought it."

Saying so, Isamu placed the Magic Stove Type I on the table, around the center.

"Wow, this looks great. As you said, it's a unique design, and it definitely exudes a sense of luxury."

"Yes, I haven't seen many all-black magic tools, but the weight gives it a sense of quality. The slight curvature of the edges shows the attention to detail, which is quite appealing."

It seemed that the black appliance-style design received positive feedback from Nicolette and Selfers.

"Well, just the fact that it has Orihime-chan's mark makes me want it."

Nicolette also liked the logo and the guild name.

"Then, with this design, we'll make final adjustments for mass production."

"That's right. We also need to gather the materials, so I'll submit a request to the Adventurer's Guild. It'll take about two weeks to gather the initial production batch. Since we plan to continue with this design in the future, it's better to have more in stock. There might be copycats soon, so it's wise to stock up. Well, we haven't filed the registration yet, and there will be a little time before mass production starts, either way."

"Understood. Starting today, Willem-san will bring magic circles, so I'll focus on deciphering those for a while."

"Hehe, I'm looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of magic circles we'll discover next."

"Yes, I'm excited too."

With permission from the Lord to mass-produce the magic stove, it would now be temporarily out of Isamu hands. The workshop that would be creating the chassis would take center stage, working on creating blueprints for mass production and making minor adjustments to the details. Once they had completed the prototypes, they would undergo a final check before moving on to mass production.

After the morning's old magic training session, Isamu returned to the workshop. At that moment, Willem and his group were bringing in the magic circles.

"Ah, Willem-san, welcome!"

"Hey there, Isamu-san. Sorry for being late; it took longer than expected to sort everything out."

"Well, with this many..."

Isamu murmured as he looked at the soldiers carrying large wooden boxes back and forth between the workshop and the horse-drawn carriage.

Originally, the plan was to transport the first batch of magic circles yesterday, but due to the sheer volume, it had been postponed until today.

"For now, I brought mainly the Honeycomb Series and similar ones."

"Thank you!"

The Honeycomb Series had already shown great results, with four deciphered magic circles. Initially, they had asked for as many Honeycomb Series as possible.

"With similar ones included, we have about 300 in total. You should probably take a quick look through them."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea. As soon as they're done unloading, I'll start going through them."

In front of the mountain of magic circles in wooden boxes, Isamu’s smile naturally broadened.

"It's clear that these 50 or so are part of the Honeycomb series. The others might have a similar vibe, but they differ in atmosphere or have partially matching elements," 

Willem explained that the distinct Honeycomb series was quite rare. When including those with partial similarities, the number would be somewhat higher, but for ones that were not in this category, even Willem, who possessed a vast collection of magic circles, had only about 50 of them.

"That's right... So, when I got to see those at the street vendor's stall, I really lucked out, huh?"

"Well, it's not like I can't read other magical circles, but it might have been a stroke of luck to find some readable ones mixed in with the larger sizes."

While having that conversation, they began to look through the Honeycomb series, which they had high hopes for.

"As I thought, I can’t clearly decipher these Honeycomb Series. This one seems to be related to water magic, although it's a bit worn and hard to see..."

One hour into examining the Honeycomb Series, Isamu had completed a primary check of about 20 magic circles. Of those, eight had been deciphered, which was exactly a 40% success rate. If this rate continued, he would find around 20 decipherable magic circles.

"Hmmm, some I can read, while others I can't... The overall look is quite similar, but where does this difference come from?"

As Isamu puzzled over the differences, Willem, sitting beside him, compared the deciphered and undeciphered magic circles.

Indeed, looking at them as "drawings," it was hard to see any significant differences between those he could read and those he couldn't. This was not surprising, considering that they had been researched for centuries and remained undecipherable.

After that, I spent another two hours examining the 49 honeycomb series.

As a result, 16 readable magic circles were found. In terms of batting average, it is .33%, which is a high enough rate to aim for the top batter.

"Because the initial success rate was so high, it might seem like 30% is too low, but considering that we had no clue about them until now, it's more than enough."

"Yeah, having 16 that you can read is outrageous, isn't it?"

"It sure is!"

"Man, Isamu-san, you're amazing once again... By the way, what kind of magic circles were they?"

"This time, it covers quite a variety. I haven't fully analyzed them, so I can't tell you the exact effects, but I think there are five or more attributes involved. And at a glance, about three of them seem like they could be used as they are. One is fire, and the other two are earth, I believe. The rest are partially preserved."

Isamu prioritized categorizing them into readable and unreadable, so he only gave them a cursory look. However, it was fortunate that there were several in good condition.

"There are still some magical circles I haven't checked, but for now, I plan to prioritize deciphering the ones we know are readable. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, that's fine. Since we're dealing with various attributes this time, it's a good idea to see what they can do and summarize it."

"Yeah, we shouldn't expand too quickly. It's better to build a strong foundation."

"Thank you. So, starting from tomorrow, I'll get right into deciphering. Eto-san, I'll continue to rely on you for the adjustments for mass-producing the magic stoves. And Willem-san, what's your plan?"

"I'll be researching the differences between the ones we can read and the ones we can't, and organizing the magic circles I have on hand. Also, I haven't been on any ruins explorations recently, so I plan to start gathering information."

"Understood. Let's go in those directions for a while. Please keep me informed if anything comes up!"

""I understand."

With Willem now part of the newly established Magic Algorithm Research Workshop, they embarked on this new beginning.

And ten days later, Isamu’s work on deciphering magical circles and Eto's mass production design were complete.

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