Chapter 38: New Currency of a New Era

The autumn sky was high, and the horses were growing fat.

I had just finished harvesting my much-anticipated rice fields and was leisurely sleeping in, giving my overworked back, hands, and feet some well-deserved rest.

I’d grown accustomed to the annual harvest routine, but even with experience, it was still exhausting. And there was always the weather to worry about. Although I knew it wouldn’t happen again, I couldn’t shake the irrational fear of a dragon suddenly swooping down from the sky to kidnap me. That person looked so cool, yet her personality was just… the worst.

Snuggled in my futon, I lazily ate rice straight out of the pot—admittedly bad manners—while reading the latest issue of my precious manga magazine. From the direction of the entrance, I heard a “mee-mee” sound. It was Mokutan’s surprised and wary cry.

The fire lizards usually made their nests in the reverberatory furnace and used it as their base, but they also knew the way from the furnace in the mountain behind my house to my home. They would occasionally drop by for a visit.

Just recently, one of them broke through the screen door from outside, got into my workshop, and scattered ash from the furnace all over the room. They weren’t exactly easy to handle.

At first, I thought Mokutan might be startled by his own reflection in the window again. But then the doorbell rang, and I realized it was something else entirely.

It was the steel wool sheep wool I’d ordered being delivered.

“Mokutan! No breathing fire!”

“Meep!”

I crawled out of the futon and called out towards the entrance. Mokutan replied energetically, though I couldn’t fully trust him. Mokutan always gave an enthusiastic response, whether he understood or not. Still, good job for answering!

Sliding on my slippers, I headed to the front door. There, Mokutan stood on his hind legs, threatening a Stoat who looked thoroughly flustered, and behind the Stoat was Hiyori, crouched low and ready to protect him at any moment.

“Oh, hey there. Welcome.”

“Hello, Dairi-san. Who’s this little one?”

“This is Mokutan. He’s the most curious and friendly one.”

If they’d run into Tsubaki, the most boastful of the group, they might’ve been scorched or clawed by now. Of course, since Hiyori was there, the professor wouldn’t have ended up hurt, but still.

Despite Mokutan’s size, Professor Ohinata was larger. Meeting my pet for the first time, the professor lowered her posture to all fours, trying not to provoke Mokutan, and gave him a polite bow.

“Mokutan-san, I’m Kei Ohinata. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Mip!”

“Mip!?”

The moment the professor bowed his head, Mokutan swiped at her with his claws.

But before those tiny claws could reach, Hiyori swiftly grabbed the Stoat and pulled her back to safety.

“Kei-chan, I told you it’s impossible. You can’t bond with monsters without a gremlin implant.”

“Y-you’re right… That caught me off guard.”

The professor, now in Hiyori’s hands, was shaking her tail nervously.

Well, that’s just how monsters are. They don’t warm up to humans, and just because someone’s a Stoat doesn’t mean they’ll get special treatment.

I retrieved Mokutan and placed him in the workshop furnace with some charcoal to keep him calm, then invited the two into my home.

Once in the living room, I served tea and received a paper bag stuffed with balls of yarn.

The order consisted of medium-weight yarn for a set of clothes and fine yarn for gloves.

Steel wool sheep yarn was a light, fluffy pale gray. According to Professor Ohinata’s explanation, exposing parts of the yarn to high heat (like from a campfire) caused the entire piece to harden at once, while still retaining its flexibility. This stuff was practically a super-material.

“Currently, products made from steel wool sheep yarn are prioritized for clothing by knitting craftsmen for non-magic dignitaries. Due to its scarcity, we can’t allocate more than this to you, Dairi-san…”

“No problem. Do you have clothes made from this stuff too, Professor?”

“I do. I had one tailored slightly larger, anticipating growth during my adolescent years, but… I haven’t grown much since becoming a Beastkin.”

“Oh, really? But didn’t I hear you could freely switch between human and Stoat forms now?”

“Not exactly. It’s more like I use a transformation spell to turn into a human, and another one to become a Stoat. I managed to increase the stability of the transformation by reworking the spell’s detour phrases, but… after the initial accident, my concept of ‘human’ seems to have been redefined to include beast ears and a tail.”

“B-but Kei-chan with animal ears is super cute!”

Hiyori tried her best to console the Stoat, whose whiskers drooped sadly.

I almost blurted out “Don’t worry about it,” but swallowed my words. This wasn’t something that could just be brushed off.

The idea of having your definition of humanity altered was terrifying.

For the professor, whose height had stopped growing at what seemed to be middle school age, it might mean an extended lifespan—or a shortened one.

My friend the Flame Witch, for instance, had become a Witch and shrank from middle school size to being small enough to fit in someone’s hand. The Hell Witch had awakened to her cannibalistic urges too. There was no telling what might happen when one’s species was warped. Terrifying.

I was just glad to be an ordinary human. Sure, I’d like to have some superpowers, but not at the cost of screwing up my lifespan or personality. My dexterity alone was all the “superpower” I needed.

Though a bit down at first, the professor cheered up after sipping tea from a doll-sized teacup.

After tidying her dampened mouth with her front paw, she broached a topic.

“By the way, Dairi-san. In addition to staffs, you also make amulets, correct?”

“Yeah, as a bit of a side job. Staffs are my main focus, though.”

“Then, as a side gig, would you be interested in designing molds for new currency?”

“Oh? Tell me more.”

Intrigued, I leaned forward.

New currency. Molds. This sounded like a fun project.

“The Tohoku Hunting Guild, Hokkaido Beast Farm, and Tokyo Witch Assembly—the three largest surviving communities—have come to an agreement. Starting early next year, they plan to issue a unified currency. With trade expected to increase, we can’t keep relying on bartering forever. We need a currency that’s compact and easy to store.”

“The fact that bartering worked until now is impressive enough.”

While not strictly bartering, it seemed IOUs and ration coupons had served as makeshift currency. I had a deed for a metalworking factory in Shinagawa, after all.

“Why coins, though? Why not paper money? Paper’s more compact.”

“That’s true, but printing paper money is too difficult…”

“Ah, yeah, without printing presses, it’d be tough. Waterproofing it would be a pain too.”

“Exactly. That’s why we’re currently collecting old coins—one-yen, five-yen, ten-yen, fifty-yen, hundred-yen, and five-hundred-yen coins. We plan to melt them down and redesign them into new currency while keeping their original face values.”

“So, you’re issuing six types of coins?”

“Yes. And the new coins will feature intricate designs to prevent counterfeiting. That’s why we’re looking for a skilled mold designer. I thought you might be interested.”

“I am. I’d love to do it.”

“Wonderful! I knew you’d create something amazing, Dairi-san!”

Professor Ohinata clapped her tiny front paws in delight, but Hiyori, skeptical, threw some shade.

“You’re probably going to go overboard with the design, aren’t you?”

“Excuse me? I’m a professional! I’ve already thought it through. Coins wear down and get dirty, right? If the design’s too intricate, it’ll wear out and become unrecognizable—counterproductive for anti-counterfeiting. Coins need a balance: intricate enough to deter forgeries, but simple enough to remain identifiable even when worn. That’s why coins traditionally feature faces, plants, buildings, or animals. These designs are visually clear, have a certain complexity, and still look off if distorted, which helps prevent counterfeiting. That’s,”

“Alright, alright! My bad for doubting you! You’re an amazing craftsman, Dairi. The perfect choice for designing these new coins.”

“Damn right.”

I completely overpowered Hiyori in our argument, then went to Professor Ohinata to hear the design conditions for the coin molds. With the reference materials she provided, I immediately started drafting the blueprints.

The design for the 10-yen coin has been decided as “Sendai Toshogu Shrine,” per the request of the Tohoku Hunting Association. It’s the building where their administrative headquarters are located. Fortunately, there are photos of it taken before the Gremlin disaster, so I can use those as a reference for the design.

As for the 100-yen coin, Hokkaido’s Monster Farm has the rights to its design, and their choice is the Great Beast, “Mountain Bear.”

The reference material includes a hyper-realistic painting of the Mountain Bear, likely done by a skilled artist. However, the scale is clearly off. When compared to the Sapporo TV Tower sketched beside it, the Mountain Bear is definitely about 40 meters long.

It even has a sun-like pattern on its stomach and divine rings of light around both wrists, giving it a serious vibe of being Kamuy, the guardian deity of northern lands. Hokkaido is just wild!

If we tried to fit the entire body of this Mountain Bear onto one side of the coin, the details would be too intricate, so it’s better to only put its face on the front. On the back, we could combine the 100 numeral with the sun-like pattern from its stomach.

The designs for the 1-yen, 5-yen, 50-yen, and 500-yen coins are under the purview of the Witches’ Council, as they’re leading the effort to create the new currency and taking on the labor of production.

For the 500-yen coin, the design was unanimously agreed upon by the Witches’ Council members: the face of a vampire mage.

The reference portrait of the vampire mage looks like a classic, middle-aged vampire. He’s wearing a tailcoat, with slicked-back hair streaked with white, and a sleek, refined physique—a stylish gentleman. He exudes the elegant aura of the upper class, but his playful expression and exaggerated wink make him quite flamboyant.

Even through the portrait, you can sense that he must have been a really good person. Sadly, he died during the Great Kaiju Invasion.

The designs for the remaining coins—1 yen, 5 yen, and 50 yen—haven’t been decided yet. The witches are all arguing fiercely, each with entirely different opinions.

The reference material includes about 30 candidate designs, along with related documentation.

Apparently, every design has its own set of problems, and conversely, any of them could work. The arguing has gotten so intense that the “Eyeball Witch” secretly told the coin-making official, “Just pick whatever you like. I’ll smooth things over.”

That official, through Professor Ohinata, dumped the decision onto me.

Honestly, I get why they’d want to pass the buck. No matter what design you choose, you’ll end up angering at least one witch—what a nightmare.

But in my case, since I keep my identity hidden, and with Hiyori’s security, I’m safe even if I make someone mad.

Still, it’s incredible how the 500-yen coin design was decided so quickly and unanimously, despite it being the highest denomination.

It’s clear just how much respect that vampire mage commanded. It’s a shame we lost someone like that.

As for the remaining coins, since it seems any design would cause problems, I just went with my personal preferences.

The 1-yen coin is the “Dragon Witch,” a ridiculous little dragon.

The actual dragon is kind of lame, but I couldn’t resist the allure of its super-cool appearance. Plus, the dragon has some popularity. Still, you get to be the weakest 1-yen coin.

The 5-yen coin is the “Tokyo Magic University,” Japan’s highest academic institution.

This one is the favorite of the Seer Mage, and since I’ve benefited from them, I went with the safe choice.

The 50-yen coin is Tokyo’s strongest witch, the “Blue Witch.”

It features Hiyori’s mask (on the front) and the Kyanos symbol (on the back).

Hiyori wasn’t on the design candidate list, but it’s still three times better than the “Stoat-chan” design suggested by the Blue Witch herself. It’s fine to make a personal choice here.

Both the mask and the Kyanos symbol are cool, and she’s one of the legendary figures anyway.

Once I finished drafting the designs, I took a breath and found Hiyori and the professor deep in a heated discussion.

They seemed to be talking about issues like credit creation, currency value backing, and inflation rates—topics related to currency circulation.

Since I couldn’t follow their conversation, I left them behind and headed to the workshop to begin production.

Time to get to work! Let’s make those new currency molds!

First, I’ll carve a wooden model, press it into a sand mold, remove the wooden model, and pour molten metal into the space left behind. Then, I’ll cool it, solidify it, and file it down to refine the shape. That’s the process.

As I carved the wooden model, I felt both a deep sense of accomplishment and a strange sensation.

Issuing new currency feels like a major historical milestone. There’s this refreshing sense of a new beginning.

But at the same time, I’ll soon be using coins designed by me for buying and selling things. That thought makes me squirm a little.

Oh well, if I have to squirm, I’ll make sure Hiyori squirms with me!

Every time she sees the 50-yen coin, she’ll feel embarrassed. Serves her right! Gahaha!

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