Kays Translations

Chapter 120: New Year’s Event

This year, Hiyori decided to stay over at my place for the New Year holiday.

Outside, the white snow was piling up silently since morning. Ever since the first snowfall a few days ago, Fuyou has been constantly finding excuses to call Mokutan over just to cuddle and stay warm.

As for me, I was warming myself under the kotatsu filled with Mokutan-brand charcoal, enjoying a simple breakfast of grilled salmon, miso soup, and rice together with Hiyori, who arrived early in the morning.

I feel bad for saying it, but food definitely tastes better when I cook it myself.

Still, if both my own dish and Hiyori’s cooking were right in front of me, my hand would always reach for hers. Strange, isn’t it?

While removing the bones from the grilled salmon with my chopsticks, I gave a warning to the laid-back Hiyori, who was sipping miso soup peacefully.

“I said it yesterday too, but I’m at a crucial stage in dissecting the Demon King Gremlin. I’ll be locking myself in the workshop over the New Year. You can stay at my place, but we won’t be doing anything together.”

“Huh…? Can’t you take a break at least for New Year’s? It’s not like you’re on a deadline.”

Hiyori looked saddened as she placed her miso soup bowl down and tried to persuade me. But I had my reasons too.

I’m a man of principle. I take pride in my work as a magic staff artisan. Even if the world’s most beautiful woman tried to tempt me into slacking off, I’d turn her down with an iron will.

“Listen, Hiyori. I said this on our first date, but I’ll never neglect my craft for the sake of flirting with you. I’m already behind on my Demon King Gremlin dissection. If I keep pushing it back with excuses, it’ll never get done—not even in a hundred years.”

“I see. I was hoping we could eat New Year’s soba together…”

“…Okay, we’ll eat soba together. But after that, I’m locking myself in the workshop.”

I gave in to that dangerously tempting offer, but I’m still a man of principle. I’ll firmly dedicate my post-dinner hours to work. I’m not some spineless fool who abandons his craft for a girlfriend.

“You know the Spider Witch built a bell tower at the temple, right? She invited me to ring the New Year’s Eve bell.”

“…We’ll go ring it together. But right after that, I’m locking myself in the workshop.”

Again, I gave in to a delightfully fun temptation I couldn’t refuse, but I’m still a man of principle. I’ll absolutely spend the hours after New Year’s doing work. I’m not some shallow loser who wastes New Year’s with his girlfriend while ignoring his responsibilities.

“I’ll be waiting for you in the bedroom tonight.”

“…Fine. But starting tomorrow morning, I’m locking myself in the workshop.”

I caved to the seductive whisper of a devious witch that could ignite lust even a thousand temple bells couldn’t extinguish—but I’m a man of principle. Tomorrow morning, I’ll finally get serious.

“Also, Mokutan invited us to go see the first sunrise of the year.”

“…We’ll go. But after the sunrise, I’m locking myself in the workshop. I’m a stubborn artisan who doesn’t slack off.”

“Yeah. You’re always so serious, Dairi.”

“Why are you laughing?”

Hiyori didn’t answer. Instead, she tangled her legs with mine under the kotatsu.

Wh-what kind of way to tangle legs is that!? That’s too lewd this early in the morning! What’s wrong with you!?

Flustered, I hid my blushing face behind the newspaper as Hiyori smirked at me.

The newspaper was packed with a year-in-review of 2111.

In spring, the Witch of Flames returned.
Soon after, Yamagami-san unveiled the magic power calculator.
In early summer, a colossal monster battle broke out between Tiamat, Gazer, and Hiyori.
The discovery of resurrection magic sent shockwaves not just through Japan, but across the world.
In summer, the magic spiral was discovered.
And of course, in late autumn, the highest-ever price for a magic staff was recorded at auction.

The behind-the-scenes details about Professor Ohinata’s recently identified Stoat reverse-traversal technique hadn’t been publicly announced yet, so they weren’t in the paper.

A lot can happen in a year, I thought to myself—until I saw it described as a “turbulent year.” So not every year is like this. Makes sense.

I figured my legendary comeback as a magic wand artisan must’ve triggered half of these events—but on closer inspection, not really.

The magic calculator wasn’t related to me. The Tiamat vs. Gazer clash had nothing to do with me either.

Sure, some events may have started because of me, but most happened independently.

Looking at the international section, the only familiar news was the bankruptcy of Kuranom Corp. (the company that did illegal research on Tiamat). The rest was all stuff like:

• Prime Minister Maharshi re-elected in India,
• The end of the Ireland-Britain conflict,
• The growing ocean ooze problem,
• Tsou Su Yanran’s world tour,
• The New San Francisco earthquake…

All things and people I don’t know.

I really only know what’s happening in my immediate surroundings. And I’ve got my hands full just dealing with that.

Since meeting Hiyori, it feels like nothing but incidents have been happening—despite the fact that we’re living quietly and modestly deep in the mountains.

Because newspapers don’t run on New Year’s Day, the New Year’s Eve edition is always thicker than usual. By the time we’d finished reading, made our traditional osechi dishes, prepared New Year’s money for Mokutan, Sekitan, and Fuyou, and done end-of-year cleaning, it was already night—with no time left to work on dissecting the Demon King Gremlin.

Starting that night, as promised, we took part in various New Year’s events together. We watched the first sunrise (though all we did was gather at Fuyou’s roots), ate ozōni soup, and after staying up all night, we slept until noon.

Finally, I was able to concentrate on dissecting the Demon King Gremlin.

I put up a “Do Not Enter” sign on my workshop door, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work. I was at the most exciting part and didn’t want to be interrupted.

Right now, the dissection of the Demon King Gremlin is about 70% complete.

The outer shell is fully dismantled, and I’m in the final stages of breaking down the core.
The materials used in the core differ from those in the outer shell—indicating a different ratio and possibly entirely different substances.

I think I’ve finally identified all the types of special Gremlins used in the Demon King Gremlin.

There are a total of 11 types of Gremlins used in the Demon King Gremlin.

So far, I’ve figured out how to make five of them:

• The standard Alpha Gremlin.
• The melted and resolidified Gremlin.
• The elastic Gremlin, grown in zero gravity.
• The high-strength Gremlin, compressed under deep-sea pressure.
• The ghost (invisible) Gremlin, harvested from ghost monsters using exorcism magic.

The remaining six types have unknown production methods.

• The Magnetic-Reactive Gremlin, which loses its function as a magical medium when exposed to magnetism.
• The Liquid Gremlin, which remains liquid at room temperature and normal pressure.
• The Mimicry Gremlin, which is usually translucent but changes color to match any Gremlin it touches.
• The Heavyweight Gremlin, which has average strength and hardness but is inexplicably heavy.
• The Invisible-in-Reflections Gremlin, which can be seen by the naked eye but does not appear in mirrors or photos.
• The Beta Gremlin, whose differences from a regular Gremlin can only be detected by those with magical control abilities.

More than half of them still have completely unknown production processes.

But the mysteries are being unraveled slowly and steadily.

For example, the Melted and Resolidified Gremlin sourced from the Demon King Gremlin, which was handed over to the Magic University 80 years ago, was eventually analyzed and found to be made from numerous thin layers of Gremlin material stacked together.

This discovery led to the invention of a new manufacturing method known as vapor deposition layering, which further developed into a magic cost rebate mechanism that partially refunds mana when magic is used.

The Elastic Gremlin can now be manufactured using Tiamat-style zero-gravity materials and Kvant-style Gremlin chains that generate repulsion fields. Yamagami-san has already put them to use in the magic power calculator.

Ahead of the spring launch of his Yamagami Research Institute, he created blueprints for an elastic-Gremlin-powered adder-subtractor calculator. He wouldn’t give them to me when I asked (“Gimme those schematics!”), but I managed to trade him a full replica part of the Demon King Gremlin’s tensegrity structure along with some notes hypothesizing its function in exchange.

Just six months ago, all his letters were overly apologetic to the point you could feel his awkwardness in every word. But now, thanks to his constant exposure to prominent figures across various fields, he’s completely adjusted and grown quite thick-skinned.

He no longer faints or stares blankly and bumps into walls when I send him ultra-high-precision geometric parts I made (according to Professor Ohinata).

On the contrary, he now brazenly places orders like, “Can you make me a part like this?” or “I want something that works like that.”

I’m honestly a bit sad that he no longer reacts in amusing ways. Give me back the innocent Yamagami-san of old.

That said, Yamagami-san is well-versed in Gremlin processing and introduced me to a great specialty tool shop. Thanks to that, I was able to acquire a full set of the latest precision tools made from enchanted metals. I’ve been making small custom tweaks to them myself to improve the speed of the Demon King Gremlin disassembly.

So I provide Yamagami-san with precision parts and disassembly data on the Demon King Gremlin.

And in return, Yamagami-san gives me unique theories and design data only he can produce, along with easy-to-understand summaries of the latest research from institutions around the world.

Now that’s what I call a win-win.

I’d definitely like to maintain this productive relationship with Yamagami-san — on paper only.

I will never meet him in person, nor do I ever want to hear his voice. Professor Handa once heard it and exploded on the spot. If Yamagami-san exploded too, it’d be a problem. Stay alive, Yamagami-san.

I locked myself in the workshop for two straight weeks to power through the most interesting and important part of the Demon King Gremlin dissection: the core.

Aside from meals, baths, sleep, and bathroom breaks, I stayed holed up the entire time. My eyes were burning, my fingers and shoulders sore, and my butt ached from sitting too long.

But thanks to that, I passed the critical phase.

From here on out, it’s just cleaning up. At this pace, I should be able to finish the dissection by the end of February or beginning of March.

After that, it’s off to the Kingdom of Luce for the Quodenentz investigation. I might need to start planning that trip soon.

When I entered the living room to have some tea and rub the wrinkles out of my forehead, I found Hiyori sitting in a rocking chair, with a furrowed brow rivaling my own, muttering to Kyanos.

“…Yeah, let’s make Fiji our meeting point.”

“Tokyo works too, you know!!? I don’t think Conrad would complain!!”

Even though Hiyori was speaking in a normal tone, Kyanos responded with an ear-splitting, familiar megavoice.

So damn loud!! I knew whose voice it was instantly!! That’s the Hell witch!! Long time no see!! You doing well!!?

Technically, Kyanos can intercept mana-based communications between Japan and the U.S.

It should take a fairly complex process to do that, but it seems Hiyori has now mastered Kyanos to the point she can hack communication lines.

I have no idea why she’s talking to the Hell witch, though.

“Fiji’s about halfway from both Tokyo and the U.S. Plus, it’s close to the site.”

“Makes sense!!? Got it!! Is Hiyo-chan going by boat!!? Or taking a dragon!?”

“I’ll transform into a dragon and fly over land. So… let’s meet at the Fiji consulate in three days.”

“Okay, I’ll let Conrad know too!! Then, see you in three days!! Give my regards to the craftsman!!”

“Sure. Later.”

Hiyori then silenced Kyanos, and with a grave expression, she brought her hand to her mouth and fell deep into thought. Then she stood up—and finally noticed me, now putting tea leaves into the teapot.

“Whoa!? You were there, Dairi?”

“I was. Heard the whole thing. What’s up? Sounded like bad news? That was the Hell witch, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, well…”

Hiyori gave a vague reply.

Hmmm?

“I heard something about Fiji and America. You going on a trip? Wait—don’t tell me the Demon King’s come back?”

“Uh… not exactly, but you’re close.”

“Wha—”

I had said it as a joke, but the shocking response sent a chill down my spine.

What!? What kind of call was that!?

That’s terrifying!!

“Do you remember the concept of open slots for Transcendents?”

“Uh, yeah… something like, there are only a limited number of Transcendents, and when one dies, their slot opens up, and somewhere in the world, a new Transcendent of the same kind is born, right?”

When I answered while trying to recall, Hiyori nodded — and then said something outrageous.

“The Hell witch has discovered a puppet mage… a successor who has taken over the Iruma slot. I’m going to join up with the Hell witch and Conrad to deal with it.”

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