Kays Translations

Chapter 21:  Möbius Link Staff Hariti

The Hell Witch is a woman full of unique characteristics. Everything about her is overwhelming—big, impactful. Her appearance, her convictions, and her sheer grit in suppressing magic outbursts for two and a half years are enough to capture anyone’s attention.

However, from the perspective of a staff craftsman—a Staff Maker (and probably a magic linguist, too)—her most striking feature is this: she has three mouths.

As she herself explained, she can chant three spells simultaneously.
She can manifest three types of hell at the same time.

If she learns spells from other witches, she could, for example, predict her opponent’s movements with foresight magic, throw an ice spear, and bind them with chains—all at once, effectively achieving solo teamwork magic.

Three times the actions. Too powerful. Of course, this also means three times the mana consumption.

Having three mouths to chant three spells simultaneously is undoubtedly strong, but it’s not without its drawbacks.

Specifically, it places a burden on the activation medium.

Witches and wizards, being superhuman, can use magic barehanded without the need for activation mediums like gremlins or magic stones.
But when using two or three spells simultaneously, this barehanded approach no longer suffices. They must use an activation medium as a focal point for their magic.

Using gremlins to cast multiple spells simultaneously often results in the gremlin trembling violently and shattering after a single use. With irregularly shaped gremlins, they may even break mid-incantation, failing to activate the magic at all. Simultaneous casting puts significant strain on the medium.

In comparison, magic stones are a superior alternative to gremlins. While they might tremble slightly when casting two spells simultaneously, they hold up just fine.
However, they apparently couldn’t withstand the simultaneous casting of three grand spells, resulting in abnormal vibrations and cracks.

That’s why the amber magic stone I received from the Hell Witch has a small crack running through its core.
If similar usage occurs in the future, the crack will spread, increasing the risk of the stone breaking or shattering entirely.

There’s an incredibly simple solution to this problem:
The issue lies in concentrating the burden on a single magic stone, on a single staff.
The straightforward fix? Just use three staffs.

Split the magic stone into three, craft three staffs, and use them separately to cast magic.

However, this painfully simple solution of carrying three staffs has a fatal flaw:

It looks uncool.

Just imagining it—it’s ridiculously uncool!!

Wielding three swords might look cool, but as soon as they’re staffs, it’s lame. I can’t allow that. Not on my watch.
Dual-wielding staffs isn’t terrible, but it’s not great either. It doesn’t sit right with me.
A single staff—just one—is the most fitting.

And I want the Hell Witch to stick with that style.

So, the goal is clear:

1. Maximize the Hell Witch’s greatest advantage, simultaneous chanting of three spells.
2. Address the sole drawback of abnormal vibrations in the magic stone.
3. Keep it to one staff. Two or three staffs are a cop-out.

These are the three priorities for this staff’s creation.

First, I wrote to Ōhinata-sensei for her opinion. The issue of simultaneous chanting causing abnormal vibrations in gremlins or magic stones seemed more like a problem in the field of magic linguistics.
I detailed the data I’d gathered through interviews with the Hell Witch and sent it along. Surprisingly, the reply took some time.

A week later, I received her response via the Blue Witch’s courier. It was the longest reply I’d ever gotten, and along with the usual snack samples, it included a pile of statistical data and distribution charts.

“Even though summer’s heat has finally started to wane, the lingering summer heat remains oppressive. Dairi-san, I hear you’ve been energetically devoting yourself to your research despite the heat, and as someone prone to summer fatigue, I can’t help but envy you (my tail hasn’t even shed its winter fur yet!). Recently, I’ve heard that the Witch of Hachioji has been gathering surviving meteorologists and weather forecasters to plan the revival of weather prediction. Without artificial satellites, it must be challenging to track cloud movements, but even a rough forecast of temperature shifts would make life much easier. I’ll let you know if they manage to forecast Okutama’s weather someday! Now, regarding the matter you wrote to me about. It was fascinating, and I conducted related experiments on my end as well, which caused the delay in my response. My apologies. However, I believe I’ve obtained data that will be useful to you.

First, when attempting to cast two or more spells using a single gremlin:
This generally doesn’t work. Even if two people synchronize their chanting perfectly, only the spell of the person closest to the gremlin activates; the others fail.
I’ve included detailed data on this phenomenon from an experiment conducted six months ago (documents labeled A-1~3). Please refer to them for more details.

However, the Hell Witch has managed to achieve simultaneous chanting.
To investigate whether this is unique to witches and sorcerers capable of controlling mana, or a special trait of the Hell Witch alone, I sought the cooperation of the Foresight Sorcerer and the Eyeball Witch for an experiment.

The result was that only one of their spells activated.
Thus, the ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously using a single activation medium seems to be unique to the Hell Witch.
No abnormal vibrations like the ones you described were observed during any stage of the process.

I then conducted further research to delve deeper into this unique phenomenon.
Among several experiments (summarized in a separate attachment, B-1~5, for reference), one involving twins yielded remarkable results.

I hypothesized that the Hell Witch’s simultaneous chanting might be possible because she uses exactly the same voice for all three spells.
Magic linguistics demands extremely precise pronunciation. Simultaneous chanting likely requires not only accurate pronunciation but also identical voice quality in every detail.
So, I recruited a pair of identical twins and had them cast two simple spells simultaneously using a gremlin.

The result? Both spells activated through the single gremlin, causing abnormal vibrations and the gremlin to shatter.
It turns out that the secret to simultaneous chanting lies in perfectly matched voice quality.

I asked the twins to conduct additional experiments to explore the patterns of abnormal vibrations. While I recommend referring to the separate document (C-1 to C-6) for detailed descriptions of these experiments, the conclusion is that certain shapes of gremlins are less prone to abnormal vibrations.

With the cooperation of professors at our university, experiments were conducted using various gremlin shapes (refer to the diagram in D-1). It was discovered that flat shapes with a central hole, resembling a five-yen coin, experienced the least abnormal vibrations.

However, our university’s processing technology has its limitations, preventing us from advancing further in this research. Based on the vibration values compared by shape (see diagram D-2), it is hypothesized that there might be a shape capable of reducing vibrations to negligible or zero levels, but we lack the ability to process materials into such a shape.

If you, Dairi-san, could utilize your exceptional craftsmanship to identify this ideal shape, it would be of immense help to us. Such progress would also be invaluable for the wand you are crafting for the Witch of Hell.

This concludes the data I can provide from my side. I hope it proves useful.

Lastly, though it may seem intrusive, I’m concerned about your tendency to neglect your health when you get deeply engrossed in your work. Please make sure to eat three proper meals, get adequate sleep, and maintain your physical condition—it will improve your crafting efficiency, too.

Take care,
Kei Ōhinata”

While snacking on the dried pineapple that was enclosed, I thoroughly studied the extensive research data provided. Though Ōhinata-sensei is worried about my tendency to lose myself in my work, I feel like producing and compiling such extensive research data in just a week suggests they’re just as much of a workaholic as I am.

Of course, Sensei has a team—research students, other professors, and supportive witches and magicians—while I work alone. The difference in social skills and networks is staggering. For someone so tiny, Ōhinata-sensei is truly incredible.

The data I received was not only fascinating but incredibly useful. When I tossed over the information I had obtained from the Witch of Hell, I was overwhelmed by a flood of highly developed data. I had only hoped for a hint, yet they practically handed me the answer.

An ideal shape for a gremlin that does not cause abnormal vibrations? And it’s close to the shape of a five-yen coin? It’s incredible how much human ingenuity and technology can uncover in such a short time. And this wasn’t some fluke success based on intuition—it was logically derived.

The final step was left to me. Crafting the shape beyond human limits? That’s my specialty. Admittedly, it’s the only thing I’m good at.

With such extensive groundwork laid, failure was not an option for me as a craftsman. Following the professor’s advice to rest adequately, I carved gremlins into every imaginable shape based on the five-yen coin design. These prototypes were sent to the university for experiments on abnormal vibrations.

Among the various designs, such as red blood cell shapes, hollowed-out diamonds, and accordion-like rings, one shape achieved perfect results.

The Möbius strip.

The Möbius strip, created by twisting a long strip of material and joining its ends, is a shape with continuous surfaces and no distinction between inside and outside. Known for its mathematical elegance and beauty, it has captured the imaginations of mathematicians and fantasy enthusiasts alike. Apparently, it holds great significance in magic as well.

The Möbius strip proved to be magically stable, consistently showing a magic amplification rate of exactly 1.00 regardless of its size. When used for magic, the inside of the loop glowed gold, adding an enchanting visual effect.

With the Möbius strip as the perfect form for magic, it was also an ideal choice for the Witch of Hell.

The shape inspired me to decide on the design of the magic staff I would craft for her.

A shakujō staff.

The shakujō, traditionally carried by Buddhist monks in their spiritual journeys, features a headpiece of interconnected rings. Its symbolism fits perfectly with the Witch of Hell, a seeker of enlightenment through infernal paths.

From flat amber-colored magic stones, I skillfully carved seven Möbius loops without breaking their continuity. Drawing inspiration from the legend of the Buddha taking seven steps at birth, I crafted a design with one large central ring flanked by three smaller rings on each side, forming a total of seven interconnected loops.

For the staff’s handle, I used bodhi wood—the tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment—imbuing the design with auspicious symbolism.

The number of rings and the material of the handle hold no practical significance.

In fact, the six small rings might even be noisy and get in the way, and there are stronger types of wood available.

However, this staff is not meant to be a high-performance weapon for battle.

It is meant to be a companion on her arduous journey.

I wanted it to carry meaning that was fitting for her.

I agonized over what inscription to carve into the staff, flipping through every dictionary and reference book in the house until I found the perfect one.

Originally a man-eating demon, she later abandoned her ways and became a goddess in Buddhism: Hariti, known in Sanskrit as (Harītī).

I want this inscription to carry my blessing for her.

The Möbius Link Staff Hariti was completed just in time—on the eve of the Hell Witch’s departure from the Eye Witch’s abode to embark on her journey. When the Blue Witch delivered it, the Hell Witch was already in the middle of packing her belongings for the road.

Though I had worked on it slowly and carefully, taking breaks, it ended up cutting things close. But that same care ensured its quality.

It’s not just a high-performance tool; it’s a masterpiece infused with the soul of a craftsman—a supreme, one-of-a-kind staff.

I sincerely hope the Hell Witch’s journey will be a good one.

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